David Cameron said yesterday that he had always disliked the European flag and European parliament

David Cameron spent the day that Theresa May triggered the Brexit process at an event in Ukraine backed by a local billionaire.

The former prime minister, who has made a series of lucrative speeches across the world since the vote for Brexit torpedoed his premiership, was said to have spoken at an event at the invitation of the tycoon Victor Pinchuk, whose company supplies pipes to the Russian energy giant Gazprom.

In a hint that he is coming to terms with the Brexit vote, Mr Cameron said that he had always disliked “the European flag and the European parliament”. However, he praised the European Union for its effective joint action in protecting Ukraine’s borders from Russian incursions. He suggested that his leadership of the remain