Barack Obama personally lobbied David Cameron against Britain leaving the European Union hours before the PM was due to make a major speech warning that Britain could “drift towards the exit”.
he US president telephoned the Prime Minister yesterday and told him directly that America valued “a strong UK in a strong European Union”.
The 3pm call took place at the height of the hostage crisis in Algeria — making clear the levels of concern in Washington that the British leader’s attempts to renegotiate Britain’s terms of membership could lead to it quitting altogether.
Mr Cameron had been due to make a landmark speech in Amsterdam this morning warning European leaders that without reform “the danger is that Europe will fail and the British people will drift towards the exit”. However, he cancelled the planned speech as the hostage crisis unfolded.
President Obama’s intervention over Europe was revealed by a White House spokesman who said last night: “The president underscored our close alliance with the United Kingdom and said that the United States values a strong UK in a strong European Union, which makes critical contributions to peace, prosperity, and security in Europe and around the world.”
Downing Street had earlier said the two leaders had discussed the Algeria situation. Officials today confirmed they discussed the speech and agreed that a debate was needed because of concerns in Britain, “but the hope is that Britain will stay in”.
Several passages of Mr Cameron’s speech were briefed in advance, before he cancelled his trip to the Netherlands. They show he intended to make clear that he wanted the UK to play a “committed and active” part in the EU in future. But he was to warn of falling public support in the UK and the need to address competitiveness and the eurozone crisis. He had been expected to warn: “If we don’t address these challenges, the danger is that Europe will fail and the British people will drift towards the exit.
“I do not want that to happen. I want the European Union to be a success and I want a relationship between Britain and the EU that keeps us in it.”
The briefings did not reveal whether Mr Cameron will commit himself to a referendum when he finally gives the long-awaited speech — or what would happen if the public voted no.
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The pre-briefed sections showed that he was intending to tell Europe’s leaders that they have a “duty” to respond to the growing frustration of their people and to accept change to the way the EU operates. “More of the same” would condemn EU nations to “less competitiveness, less growth, fewer jobs”, he was to argue.
In a riposte to supporters of the status quo in Europe, Mr Cameron was planning to say: “More of the same will not secure a long-term future for the eurozone. More of the same will not see the European Union keeping pace with the new powerhouse economies. More of the same will not bring the European Union any closer to its citizens.”
