Cameron ignored warning against ‘stupid’ EU referendum
DAVID CAMERON was warned that his “stupid referendum” about Britain’s EU membership could end in personal disaster, a new documentary reveals.
The serving European Council President, Donald Tusk, told Inside Europe: Ten Years of Turmoil, Mr Cameron confided in him that he only promised the 2016 vote because he expected to be in another coalition with the Lib Dems, who would veto it.
The BBC documentary, due to be broadcast next Monday, features interviews with figures from all sides of Brexit, including former Chancellor George Osborne, ex-Foreign Secretary William Hague, the European Commission’s President JeanClaude Juncker and former French Presidents Nicolas Sarkozy and Francois Hollande.
In a straight-talking interview, former Polish Prime Minister Mr Tusk described talking to Mr Cameron before the referendum, while he was trying to get concessions from EU leaders on migrant benefits in an attempt to head off Eurosceptic Tory MPs.
Mr Tusk warned him there was “no appetite for revolution”, adding: “I asked David Cameron, ‘Why did you decide on this referendum, this – it’s so dangerous, so, even, stupid, you know’.
“He told me – and I was really amazed and even shocked – that the only reason was his own party.
“[He told me] he felt really safe, because he thought at the same time that there’s no risk of a referendum, because, his coalition partner, the Liberals, would block this idea of a referendum.
“But then, surprisingly, he won and there was no coalition partner. So paradoxically David Cameron became the real victim of his own victory.”
Mr Tusk added that after the referendum he agreed with Mr Cameron’s decision to step down as PM, adding: “It was like his day of reckoning was coming, reckoning for his biggest mistake in his life.”
Mr Cameron was also warned about his negotiating tactics by the two French presidents who served during his time at Number 10. Mr Sarkozy revealed how he warned Mr Cameron about his attempt at strong-arm tactics with EU leaders over concessions on migrant rules and integration, telling him: “If you try to break our arm, you’ll get nothing.”
And Mr Hollande revealed during a visit to Chequers in 2015 he tried to talk the Tory leader out of holding the referendum.
The French politician said: “Nothing obliged him to hold the referendum when he did.”