US president, visiting London, says ‘part of being friends is being honest’ as he lays out perils of leave vote in EU referendum

Barack Obama has warned that the UK would be at the “back of the queue” in any trade deal with the US if the country chose to leave the EU, as he made an emotional plea to Britons to vote for staying in.



The US president used a keenly awaited press conference with David Cameron, held at the Foreign Office, to explain why he had the “temerity to weigh in” over the high-stakes British question in an intervention that delighted remain campaigners.

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Obama argued that he had a right to respond to the claims of Brexit campaigners that Britain would easily be able to negotiate a fresh trade deal with the US. “They are voicing an opinion about what the United States is going to do, I figured you might want to hear from the president of the United States what I think the United States is going to do.

“And on that matter, for example, I think it’s fair to say that maybe some point down the line there might be a UK-US trade agreement, but it’s not going to happen any time soon because our focus is in negotiating with a big bloc, the European Union, to get a trade agreement done”.

He added: “The UK is going to be in the back of the queue.”

Standing alongside his visitor, Cameron said the referendum was the “sovereign choice of the British people” but it was important for voters to listen to the opinions of allies such as the president. “On this vital issue of trade, where Barack has made such a clear statement, we should remember why we are currently negotiating this biggest trade deal in the whole world, and in the whole world’s history, between the European Union and the United States.”

Obama argued that it was much more efficient for the US to negotiate with the EU as a bloc, rather than attempt to take on “piecemeal trade agreements”, and suggested that Brexit would send a signal of division to the world.

He also weighed into UK domestic considerations, arguing that if he were a British voter he would be wary of cutting himself off from the market that takes 44% of British exports and is “responsible for millions of jobs and an enormous amount of commerce upon which a lot of businesses depend”.

Obama insisted that he was not issuing a threat, but said he was simply offering a point of view.

“This is a decision for the people of the United Kingdom to make. I’m not coming here to fix any votes. I’m not casting a vote myself. I am offering my opinion, and in democracies, everybody should want more information, not less, and you shouldn’t be afraid to hear an argument being made,” he said.

Out campaigners were quick to point out that Obama would no longer be president when a trade deal would be negotiated, and claimed he was issuing an unrealistic threat.

The US president was on his fifth visit to London, and had come to visit Cameron following a 90th birthday lunch with the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh that was also attended by his wife, Michelle. The couple, who will remain the UK on Saturday, had dinner with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

Lavishing praise on his hosts, Obama spoke warmly about the Queen, describing her as an “an astonishing person and a real jewel to the world, not just to the United Kingdom. She is truly one of my favourite people.”

A relaxed-looking Obama responded to an article by Boris Johnson, which was criticised for including claims that the president’s “part-Kenyan” ancestry had resulted in anti-British sentiment.

Writing in the Sun, the mayor of London, a leading advocate for Britain to leave the European Union, said Obama’s country would “not dream of embroiling itself” in anything similar to the EU, which he said was inching towards a federal superstate. Johnson also referred to Obama’s heritage, while claiming that the president had removed a bust of Winston Churchill from the Oval Office in what some had described as a “snub to Britain”.

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Obliquely responding to Johnson, the president said he had voluntarily placed a bust of Churchill outside his private office on the second floor of the White House. “I love Winston Churchill. I loved the guy,” he said.

But Obama admitted that he had replaced a second bust of Britain’s wartime leader that had sat in the Oval Office during the presidency of George W Bush with one of Martin Luther King “to remind me of all the hard work of a lot of people who had somehow allowed me to have the privilege of holding this office”.

Cameron said he would not respond to the article written by Johnson, saying: “Questions for Boris are questions for Boris, they are not questions for me.”

After the article was published, Johnson sought to play down the row, saying he was a fan of Obama. He added: “But I think there’s a weird paradox when the president of the United States, a country that would never dream of sharing its sovereignty over anything, instructs or urges us politely to get more embedded in the EU, which is already making 60% of our laws.”

Cameron referred to Obama warmly, saying: “I’m honoured to have Barack as a friend. He’s taught me the rules of basketball, he’s beaten me at table tennis ... I’ve always found Barack someone who gives sage advice. He’s a man with a very good heart. He’s a very good friend and always will be a good friend, I know, to the United Kingdom.”

Obama responded lyrically, arguing that he and Cameron had shared an “extraordinary partnership”, describing the British leader as one of his closest and most trusted partners.

“We shared our countries’ beer with each other. He vouches for his, I vouch for mine. We have taken in a basketball game in America and, David, I think you should recall we were actually partners in that pingpong game and we lost to some schoolchildren. I can’t remember whether they were eight or 10 but they were decidedly shorter than we were and they whooped us,” he said, to laughs from reporters.

Cabinet minister Chris Grayling, who is leader of the House of Commons, told the Guardian: “We don’t have a free trade agreement now and we are already one of the US’s main trading partners. Equally our security partnership has little to do with the EU. So it feels rather as if today was about politics and not reality. We should not give up our independence just because of what President Obama said.”

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The comments will come as a blow to leave campaigners given Obama’s popularity in the UK. But they did seize on one of his arguments, that uncontrolled migration into Europe was a national security threat to the world.

The justice minister, Dominic Raab, said: “The president made clear that uncontrolled immigration into the EU is a threat to national security. I agree – that is why it is safer to take back control so that we can stop terror suspects from Europe coming into the UK.



“He argued that he thinks it is in America’s interests for the UK to stay in the EU but what is good for US politicians is not necessarily good for the British people. We want more international cooperation after we vote leave, but the EU is not fit for purpose, and cannot cope with the multiple crises we face like terrorism, Syria and mass migration.”

Raab argued that Obama was doing the prime minister a “political favour”.

“You can’t say on the one hand that the US-UK special relationship is as strong as ever and always will be, and in the next breath say take my advice or you go to the back of the queue,” he said. “I don’t think the British people will be blackmailed by anyone, let alone a lame duck US president on his way out.”

Nigel Farage, the Ukip leader, said the Obama failed to understand that the EU was a political union and completely different from Nato and the G8.

“President Obama won’t be in office by the time we’re out of the EU post-referendum. Trade deals of course are in both countries’ interests.”

Labour confirmed that the president would meet the party leader Jeremy Corbyn on Saturday in London, putting to rest suggestions during that week that the Labour leader might be snubbed.



