With prize in sight, Brexit camp risks dashing its dream

Witham, England

STRIDING through a housing estate in the drizzle to hand out leaflets, 52-year-old builder Kevin Lovett throws up his arms in despair as he rails against the deceit he sees at the heart of the European Union.

Whether knocking on doors or berating the EU as a corrupt superstate, those campaigning for a British exit, or "Brexit", at a referendum expected in June are driven by a passion that may be their greatest strength and their greatest weakness.

Pitching their dream of a proud Britain breaking free from a German-dominated bloc, the "out" campaigners cast leading pro-Europeans as members of an out-of-touch elite.

But their movement has no overall leader and is made up of a jumble of bickering groups with very different visions of Britain's fate outside the EU. A battle for control and money at…