Friday, April 22, 2016 12:18 pm
US President Barack Obama plunged into Britain’s poisonous European Union membership debate Friday, arguing strongly against a “Brexit” as he kicked off a visit to the UK.
Obama’s intervention ahead of the June 23 vote in a piece for the Daily Telegraph newspaper drew a furious response from eurosceptics like London Mayor Boris Johnson, who said he should mind his own business.
Writing in the Telegraph, a traditional bastion of euroscepticism, Obama argued that Britain’s place in the EU magnifies its global influence and its membership is a matter of “deep interest” to the United States.
“I realise that there’s been considerable speculation — and some controversy — about the timing of my visit,” Obama wrote.
Noting that he wanted to mark the 90th birthday of Queen Elizabeth II on Thursday in person — he and First Lady Michelle Obama will at lunch at Windsor Castle later Friday — the president was also unusually forthright about his country’s interest in Britain’s EU membership.
Stressing that the choice was purely for the British people, he wrote: “I will say, with the candour of a friend, that the outcome of your decision is a matter of deep interest to the United States. (Read Obama’s full article here: EU makes Britain even greater)
“The path you choose now will echo in the prospects of today’s generation of Americans.”
In response, Johnson, the leading face of the eurosceptic campaign, said it was “downright hypocritical” of the US to intervene in the debate.
“For the United States to tell us in the UK that we must surrender control of so much of our democracy is a breathtaking example of the principle of do as I say, not as I do,” he said in a piece for the Sun, Britain’s top-selling tabloid.
While experts warn many people have not yet decided how to vote, the “Remain” camp currently has 54 percent support compared to 46 percent for “Leave”, according to an average of the last six opinion polls by academics at the What UK Thinks project.
– EU ‘spreads British values’ –
Obama will likely be asked to weigh in further during a joint press conference with British Prime Minister David Cameron following talks at his Downing Street office later Friday.
His intervention is an unusual overt foray into the domestic politics of another country.
*Reported by AFP
Join The Conversation