Queen Elizabeth has just celebrated her 90th birthday and it is 400 years since the Bard died – what better excuse for a visit to the UK by the President of the United States? Being an astute guy with an army of advisers, President Obama was bound to know that the UK will hold a referendum on its continued membership of the EU on 23rd June. Fearing what Mr Obama and his entourage might say (which in itself speaks volumes against the Brexit case), the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, stated that it would be “naked hypocrisy” if the President was to endorse Britain’s remaining in the EU. Cynics might point out that this was a case of the pot calling the kettle black as the mayor was regarded as being pro-European until recently. It is widely suspected that Mr Johnson’s posturing is more about a potential run for the leadership of a post David Cameron Conservative party than any heart-felt Euroscepticism, but he would deny this, of course.
Mr Obama made a comment on British influence: "The UK is at its best when it's helping to lead a strong European Union. It leverages UK power to be part of the EU. I don't think the EU moderates British influence in the world, it magnifies it. America wants Britain's influence to grow, including within Europe."
In a press briefing, Mr Obama pointed out that the US is currently engaged in discussion of a major US/EU trade deal (TTIP) and that should the UK leave the EU, it would find itself at the end of a queue which could see it take 10 years to agree a trade deal with the US.
As what can only be seen as a mark of increasing desperation, Brexit supporters seized on Obama’s use of the word “queue” as opposed to the Americanism “line” as evidence to suggest that his intervention has been scripted by Downing Street. Judging from Brexit claims, any foreign support of remaining in the EU is either corporate cosiness or evidence of an EU gravy train. Any economic report suggesting that the UK would be worse off is “scaremongering” and any doubts raised about the post EU UK being able to instantly drum up trade deals which are as advantageous as those it currently has or better is to play down British pluck and surrender sovereignty to Brussels. They have yet to gain endorsement from any serious economic body and dismiss the opinions of any that take a contrarian view. The worrying thing, from an economic standpoint, is that opinion polls continue to show that the exit campaign is still drawing very significant support. This suggests that the decision will be visceral and not taken on economic grounds alone. Anger against the EU and its Commission is prevalent in all EU member states. The debate should move from in/out to how the 28 member states (and most importantly their electorates) wish to see the EU evolve to serve them better and deliver more prosperity and jobs.