What are you so scared of, Dave?

ON yesterday’s front page, the Mail asked the Prime Minister: ‘What are you so scared of, Dave?’ The question was prompted by Mr Cameron’s apparent refusal to appear in a televised encounter with either of the most persuasive Tory advocates of Brexit, Boris Johnson and Michael Gove.

Instead, he has arranged to take part in an ITV programme in which the case for withdrawal will be put by Nigel Farage, who is not a member of the official Leave campaign, thought by No 10 to be a divisive figure and easier to out-argue. They will not even meet head-to-head.

Such calculations are unworthy of Mr Cameron and the great issue we must decide on June 23. For months, he has made sweeping and passionate statements, outlining his apocalyptic vision of Brexit.

He has dragooned security chiefs and even Barack Obama into his campaign to frighten the wits out of voters. This week, he went so far over the top as to suggest that leaving the EU would heighten the risk of genocide and European war!

Leave aside that if this is what he truly believes, it is strange that he called this referendum in the first place, indicating he would be ready to lead Britain out of the EU if he failed to get the ‘fundamental reform’ he sought.

After all he has said, he simply cannot deny voters the chance to hear his scaremongering subjected to forensic scrutiny by the other side. If he ducks this challenge, the public will conclude either that he is a coward or, more probably, that he knows his doom-laden claims will not stand up to analysis.

Mr Cameron is a formidable debater, as sharp-witted as anyone in politics. If there is a sound case to be made in support of his dire predictions – a mighty big If – nobody is better equipped to make it. This paper urges him to man up and face his most penetrating critics. Or is he content for the public to conclude he’s been talking rubbish – and he knows it?