Clarke: Brexit won’t change good relations
The good relations between the governments of the UK and Cyprus would not be threatened even in the case of a British exit from the EU, Conservative MP Kenneth Clarke said during a press conference on the upcoming EU referendum with foreign correspondents in London.
Clarke, an MP for 46 years and member of various Conservative-led governments, who campaigns for the UK to remain in the EU, was asked to comment on whether a Brexit would have any effect on the UKCyprus good relations.
“I can’t believe a British government is going to emerge that it doesn’t endeavour to be on good terms with the government of Cyprus,” said Clarke, according to the Agency.
“I just think the two countries are natural allies; we have absolutely no interests that divide us.”
He added that the vast majority of British politicians of right and left expect that their country is on good terms with the government of Cyprus.
“Also the vast majority of British politicians would also welcome a settlement of the Cyprus problem and anything the British could do to help to restore the unity of the island, I think any British government would do,” he added.
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“Whatever else this crazy referendum threatens, I don’t think it threatens good relations between the governments of Britain and Cyprus. In the realpolitik there’s nothing that divides us; we have a lot in common,” he said.
Clarke also commented that he had not heard a ‘Brexiteer’ claim that members of the populous Cypriot community in the UK are a particular “problem”; and he jokingly added: “They are not a particularly controversial community here; no doubt they (the Brexiteers) will find some reason for why we should send back all people from Cyprus, but I dare one try.”
