PM: I’m European from the bottom of my heart

Out campaign says Cameron will accept ‘any old deal’

DAvID CAMERON said last night he feels ‘deeply European’ from the bottom of his heart, angering Brexit campaigners who claimed his comments proved he will campaign to stay in the EU ‘regardless’.

In an interview with French Tv, the Prime Minister said Britain was a country with a ‘European destiny’ and that it was ‘important’ to stay in a European Union ‘that works for us’.

And he invoked Britain’s heroic struggle against Adolf Hitler to bolster his claim that the country should stay in a reformed Europe. His comments angered campaigners lobbying for Britain to leave the EU who said they were proof that Mr Cameron was going to accept ‘any old deal’.

The interview came as the Prime Minister’s hopes of holding his EU referendum in June suffered a blow when his fellow leaders said an agreement was still some way off.

The French prime minister said a deal on reforms to Britain’s relationship with Brussels was unlikely to be struck at a meeting of the bloc’s leaders next month.

In that case, the referendum vote could be put off until September – which would be after an expected upsurge in the number of migrants coming from the Middle East.

Mr Cameron is at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where yesterday he urged business leaders to campaign in favour of an In vote. Interviewed on French channel TF1, the Prime Minister was asked: ‘From the bottom of your heart, Mr Prime Minister, do you feel deeply European?’

Mr Cameron replied: ‘Of course. Britain is a European country, and I feel very much part of that.

‘Britain and France together, twice in the last century, have suffered enormous casualties and loss to prevent the domination of our continent, and in the Second World War to stop fascism and Nazism. Britain and France are European countries with European destinies, but it’s important for both of us that we fulfil those destinies in an organisation, the European Union, that works for both of us.

‘I want a Europe that works for France, just as I want a Europe that works for Britain, but we’re both proud European nations with, I think, a lot to be proud of.’

The Prime Minister also said he hoped he would not have to campaign for Brexit.

‘That’s not what I hope for,’ he said. ‘What I hope and my aim in all this is to secure Britain’s place in a reformed EU.

‘I think that would be good for Britain and good for Europe. But of course, if we can’t achieve the things we have set out, I’ve always said I rule nothing out, because it’s important we solve this issue.’

Last night Matthew Elliott, chief executive of vote Leave, said: ‘It is now clear that David Cameron is going to campaign for us to stay in the EU regardless.

‘Instead of battling for Britain he is going to take any old deal that EU politicians offer him. We believe Britain’s destiny is to be outside of this cosy Brussels club. We need to take back control and vote Leave.’

Downing Street has been keen to hold the PM’s referendum in June, before an expected summer upsurge in migration from the Middle East.

But Manuel valls, the French prime minister, speaking yesterday morning in Davos, said he did not believe a deal would be struck next month: ‘No, I think we will need more time. The discussions only started a short time ago.’

Mr Cameron told an audience of businessmen that although he remained hopeful of reaching a deal in February, he was in ‘no hurry’ if the deal was not right: ‘I very much hope that we can, with the goodwill that is clearly there, reach an agreement at the February European Council.

‘I can hold my referendum at any time up until the end of 2017, and it is much more important to get this right than to rush it.’

Mr Cameron admitted that even after the referendum, there will be work to be done. He said: ‘There will be many things that will be imperfect about the European Union even after this negotiation. The reform will not be finished.’

‘I want a Europe that works for Britain’