David Cameron told Angela Merkel he was ready to cut Britain’s ties with Brussels if he could not win back key powers, a new book reveals

David Cameron told Angela Merkel he was ready to cut Britain’s ties with Brussels if he could not win back key powers, a new book reveals.

In a face-to-face Downing Street showdown with the German chancellor, the Prime Minister said: ‘If there’s no deal, it’s not the end of the world; I’ll walk away from the EU.’

Mrs Merkel hit back, describing Britain as ‘Europe’s problem child’. She accused Mr Cameron of acting like a ‘wrecker’ at leaders’ meetings, saying it made him ‘hated’.

The chancellor also mocked Mr Cameron’s ‘Eurosceptic vision’, saying: ‘He who has visions should go to a doctor.’

The extraordinary exchanges are described in a new book, Cameron At 10 by Anthony Seldon and Peter Snowdon, serialised for the second week in today’s Mail on Sunday.

The biography also reveals:

● Mr Cameron described critics of his gay marriage policy as ‘Neanderthals’;

● The Prime Minister and Vladimir Putin had a 2am gay rights ‘bickerfest’ in which they argued ‘like executives at a sales conference who had stayed up too late at the bar’;

● Mr Cameron refuses to give up his pledge to boost spending on overseas aid, partly to avoid upsetting Bob Geldof;

● The Prime Minister blurted out his pledge not to serve three terms in a BBC interview with wife Samantha because ‘he finds it harder to conceal the full truth with her present’.

Today’s disclosures from the book follow the shockwaves caused by last week’s revelations – which included how the head of the Army said Mr Cameron ‘lacked the balls’ to act decisively in Syria.

The news of the Prime Minister’s clashes with Mrs Merkel could not come at a more sensitive time in Britain’s relations with the EU over the migrant crisis. The book reveals a series of clashes between the two over the UK’s role in Europe – and the way Mr Cameron conducts himself during Brussels talks.

In a face-to-face showdown with the German chancellor, the Prime Minister said: ‘If there’s no deal, it’s not the end of the world; I’ll walk away from the EU’

In one meeting, the pair and their aides thrashed out their differences into the early hours ‘over several bottles of wine’, the book claims. Mr Cameron accused Mrs Merkel of letting him down after she promised to help block the appointment of federalist Jean-Claude Juncker as EU Commission president.

After all EU states except the UK and Hungary backed Mr Juncker, Mr Cameron mockingly compared the vote to the 1960 film about Roman gladiator Spartacus, who was crucified for leading a revolt. After being captured, his soldiers refuse to betray their leader, each saying: ‘I am Spartacus.’

Mr Cameron accused Mrs Merkel of letting him down after she promised to help block the appointment of Jean-Claude Juncker as EU Commission president

Mr Cameron told aides the EU vote was just like this, with leaders saying: ‘I am for Juncker, I too am for Juncker…’

His threat to ‘walk away’ from the EU came at a No 10 dinner in 2012. After Mr Cameron urged Mrs Merkel to back his demand for reforms, she said the EU would be ‘lost’ without Britain.

He should ‘take the advice of an older woman’ and be less aggressive, she said, warning him against being seen as ‘just a wrecker’.

She added: ‘You keep putting yourself up as an opponent and we all hate you and isolate you.’ She worried the UK was ‘Europe’s problem child’.

When Mr Cameron admitted he was humiliated by rebel Tory MPs who defeated him in a vote on the EU budget, Mrs Merkel also demanded to know how they had been punished.

In addition, the book describes Mr Cameron’s determination to push ahead with two of the policies most disliked by Tory supporters – gay marriage and boosting overseas aid spending.

Ignoring a warning from Australian polling guru Lynton Crosby that same-sex marriage was ‘f****** off the party big time,’ the Prime Minister said it was ‘Neanderthal’ to stop gay people having equal rights.

His support for equality led to a late night row – described as a ‘bickerfest’ by Seldon – with Russia’s president at a meeting in St Petersburg. Vladimir Putin allegedly complained that such a policy would stop Russians producing enough babies.

The book also claims that one reason Mr Cameron stuck to his commitment to boost foreign aid was to ‘avoid war ... with popular figures’ such as rock star Bob Geldof.

Merkel to Cameron: 'You are hated... Britain is Europe's problem child'

By Anthony Seldon and Peter Snowdon for the Mail on Sunday

At their first meeting in Berlin shortly after the 2010 Election, Angela Merkel is intrigued by this charming ‘upper-class’ Prime Minister, admiring his confidence and manners.

But there is tension in the air. She is no longer furious but she is still disconcerted at David Cameron’s decision to withdraw the Conservative Party from the EPP (the mainstream Centre-Right European Parliament group – a move seen as a bid to appease Tory Eurosceptics). She is not vindictive and her anger has mellowed.

She concludes that the charming new PM is apt to make up his mind too quickly.

She surmises, correctly, that he hasn’t thought through fully Britain’s position as a non-euro country.

Angela Merkel and David Cameron first met after the 2010 Election, with the German chancellor admiring the Prime Minister's confidence and manners

The eurozone crisis dominates their early discussions. Merkel is particularly upset when Cameron describes himself as a ‘Eurosceptic’. He phones her to explain that the word ‘sceptical’ in Britain doesn’t mean the same as in Europe: ‘It doesn’t mean I am against the European project. What I want is a reformed Europe.’ She replies: ‘He who has visions should go to a doctor.’

When Germany considers a change to the Lisbon Treaty to help it deal with the eurozone crisis, Cameron thinks he has persuaded Merkel over lunch in Berlin to agree to safeguards for Britain’s financial sector.

The British strategy is to rely on Merkel – it’s ‘Berlin or bust.’ But Merkel concludes it is more trouble than it is worth to take up British concerns.

Cameron phones her. ‘I’ll have to veto,’ he tells her in a state of agitation.

‘In that case, I’ll have to do it without you,’ she tells him emphatically.

Cameron showed Merkel a PowerPoint presentation which included pictures of them hugging

He takes a breath. ‘You’ll have to use the EU institutions and they belong to all of us and we won’t let you,’ he says.

‘We’ll go to the European Court of Justice,’ she replies. Everywhere she turns, Merkel tells him, he is standing in her way. She is exasperated.

Cameron duly exercises his veto. Overnight he has become a hero to the Conservative Party. But at a price. If he is to use his ‘Berlin or bust’ strategy again, he has to learn fully how to play Merkel.

Throughout 2012, the Prime Minister comes under growing pressure to commit to a referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU. Merkel is the key, so Cameron invites her to a private dinner in No 10 on November 7.

He greets her at the front door and shows her to the Pillared Room where they had a drink. Then they go through the double doors into the Small Dining Room.

Cameron shows her a PowerPoint partly in German with pictures of them hugging. The aim is to engage her and inject humour and informality. He describes his own Euroscepticism, and how he feels the British public don’t give him the benefit of the doubt over Europe. She asks why frustration with the EU has got so high. He tells her: ‘The single currency changed everything. You are in the midst of a huge existential crisis which we are not part of.’

She looks at him intently trying to understand him. She is reserving judgment on him. Interrupting him, she asks whether he wants to stay in the EU. ‘I’ve supported our membership all my political life, but I’m worried if I don’t get reforms, I won’t be able to keep Britain in. If I don’t listen to British public opinion, then Britain will depart from Europe. The European project was mis-sold here.’

The genie is out of the bottle, Merkel replies: antipathy has been allowed to grow in Britain in a way that she wouldn’t have allowed in her own country.

‘I have a problem with my party,’ Cameron replies, ‘even though elements in the Conservative Party are more pro-Europe than the country, which is even more sceptical.’

She insists both can rally round an agenda of greater competition. Cameron replies: ‘But the more I fight for competitiveness in the EU, the more you leave me to do it on my own. It is very frustrating.’

Differences in opinion: Merkel said Europe would be lost if Britain leaves the EU, of if it leaves Britain behind

She is staring very hard at him. If Britain leaves the EU, or if it leaves Britain behind, she tells him, Europe will be lost. ‘Without you, I don’t know what is going to happen.’

She says his use of the veto in the EU the previous December may have made him a fleeting ‘hero’ in the eyes of his country, but he was too forceful. He says that is the British style. Other EU cultures do things differently, she says. To be forceful is to be British, replies Cameron.

Perplexed, Merkel refuses to take pride in being controversial. She is fascinated by the way Cameron’s mind works; but she still doesn’t think he is right.

KEEP AID - TO AVOID WAR WITH GELDOF ‘One of the rare issues on which Cameron will lose his temper is if they try challenging him over development spending,’ says an aide. At the Gleneagles G8 summit in July 2005, chaired by Tony Blair, the G8 committed itself to spending 0.7 per cent of gross national income on overseas development, a figure Cameron remains committed to. In a time of austerity, Cameron comes under regular pressure about this issue. His dogged commitment to it, while refusing [at the time] to make a similar commitment on Defence, is seen by some as perverse. Why did he give such a high standing? Christianity is not a strong overt force in his life, as it is for some supporters of overseas aid. Political factors certainly played a part: the Tories needed to shred their ‘nasty party’ image. Throughout 2012 and into 2013, Cameron is one of the very few Ministers who actively support the 0.7 per cent commitment. At one point, when it becomes particularly politically difficult, even Nick Clegg begins to say: ‘You know, it would make our lives much easier if we push back the 0.7 per cent.’ Cameron considers this and speaks to George Osborne about it, but in the end, they come out against change. Why? Cameron understands the benefits for Britain that ‘soft power’ can provide but it’s more than that. It’s to do with his personal commitment; a desire to avoid war with charities and non-governmental organisations, including with popular figures such as Bob Geldof; and, critically, a desire not to break promises. Cameron and Osborne have absorbed the lessons of Clegg reneging on his tuition-fees pledge. ‘We won’t win any new friends and we’ll look like people who have no principles,’ is their view. Advertisement

Why can’t he compromise like her? She tells him about her own statecraft and warns him not to rush into saying, ‘I’m leaving the ship.’

‘No,’ says Cameron, ‘I have to be pushy for our interests; but I don’t want Britain to leave.’

It is the frankest conversation they have ever had.

She advises him how to conduct himself at EU meetings. If he is seen as just a wrecker it will be hopeless. If he makes it ‘Britain versus The Rest’ it will become self-fulfilling, she warns starkly.

He is defensive: ‘I don’t accept we just turn up at the Council to be difficult.’

He uses his full emotional force with her: ‘I need to make a pitch to the country. If there is no acceptable deal, it’s not the end of the world; I’ll walk away from the EU.’

Now the Chancellor draws on her psychological arsenal: as an older woman, she tells him, it is difficult to know whether she regrets him being so decisive, or to admire it. It can be very helpful to have friends, she says.

He recalls his ‘humiliating’ defeat over the EU budget in a Commons vote two months earlier.

What happened to the Conservative MPs who voted against him? she asks.

One of Cameron’s aides intervenes to say some Tory MPs had never accepted his leadership and wanted to destroy him.

She will try to help – but there are limits.

Merkel has some sympathy for his argument that the EU was very different to the Common Market Britain joined in 1973. She understands how the British public might have felt cheated.

But before she leaves, they discuss the EU budget negotiations.

Merkel is irritated that the British Treasury has spoken in public about the real-term freeze of €886 million which Cameron hopes to secure. ‘Why did you put this number out there?’ she exclaims. Why does he always do this, she complains.

Everyone will go to the barricades if that is his position. Now it is Cameron’s turn to be direct: ‘I’ll block it if I have to.’

She is unmoved. You keep putting yourself up as an opponent and we all hate you and isolate you, she says.

Why can’t he make any tactical shifts, like Germany? She worries that Britain is the EU’s ‘problem child’.

In January 2013, after a sceptical George Osborne is finally won round, Cameron finally promises an EU referendum by 2017.

The speech is received positively in Berlin. But Cameron’s relations with Merkel come under renewed strain in 2014 over the appointment of Jean-Claude Juncker as president of the European Commission.

© Anthony Seldon and Peter Snowdon 2015

Vote for Juncker? It was like a scene from Spartacus!

Cameron depended on Angela Merkel to help him stop European federalist Jean-Claude Juncker getting the job but was ultimately let down by her.

Cameron and Merkel discuss Juncker in the No 10 flat alone in February 2014.

She tells him not to go in too hard against Juncker but convinces Cameron she will help him kill off Juncker’s candidacy. Her message, as he reports it, is: ‘Don’t worry, David. I’m not a fool.’ However, she is taken by surprise by pro-Juncker feeling in Germany and caves in.

Cameron is left high and dry but insists on ‘going down in flames’.

Cameron compared EU nations' backing of Jean-Claude Juncker (left) to be European Commission President to a scene from Spartacus (right)

Boris Johnson angers No 10 when he dismisses the bid to block Juncker as the ‘quintessence of turd-polishing pointlessness’.

At the G7 summit in Brussels in June, Cameron invites Merkel for a late-night drink at Rue Ducale, the elegant residence of the British permanent representative. She tells him the game is up. ‘I thought I could stop it but I was wrong,’ she says.

PM READ RACE NEWS BEFORE SEEING THE QUEEN The Prime Minister is assiduous in ensuring that No 10 keeps Buckingham Palace closely informed about matters of state and is thrilled that the Queen accepts his invitation to come to Chequers (her first visit since 1996): unlike some predecessors, he loves his annual visits to Balmoral in September. He looks forward to his weekly audiences with the Queen, and studies the racing results before going to see her. Advertisement

‘I don’t accept that, we should not give in,’ replies Cameron.

He feels he has been given undertakings that she has not delivered.

They meet again at the summer residence of the Swedish prime minister where they sit up talking until two o’clock in the morning over several bottles of wine. Cameron keeps bringing their conversation back to Juncker, but Merkel will not have it.

She is clearer than ever that it has to be Juncker, by now under attack from the British press as ‘Junck the drunk’ for his supposed drinking habits. The next morning, Cameron, who likes wild-water swimming, goes for a swim in the lake.

He is determined to force all the other European leaders to vote on the Juncker appointment in order to face up to their actions. In the vote later that month, all, bar Britain and Hungary, support Juncker.