David Cameron

11.09.2015 Brexit / UK Politics

Stopping the UK being a brake on EU integration

Tony Blair promised to put Britain at the heart of Europe, and then failed to do it. Not only did he not take Britain into the Euro, but he also divided the EU over Iraq (preventing the development of a

08.09.2015 Brexit / UK Politics

What if Cameron actually doesn’t know what he’s doing in the referendum campaign?

After the initial shock of the Tory victory in May, and the dawning realisation that the UK’s in-or-out of the EU referendum will indeed happen, a sort of calm consensus among pro-EU contacts of mine in the UK formed in

22.05.2015 Brexit / UK Politics

Cameron’s “proper choice” in the EU referendum ought to mean there’s a third option on the ballot paper

So Cameron is in Riga, trying to charm fellow EU leaders that British exceptionalism a reformed EU is possible. News about it here. But one phrase particularly struck me from Cameron’s words – we’re going to give the people a

17.05.2015 Brexit / UK Politics

What happens if David Cameron switches to the No side in the EU referendum?

(note: this is a counterfactual – just in case you’re reading it after October 2015!) It is Wednesday 21st November 2015, and David Cameron has called a press conference at Downing Street. With his face going rather puce, the anger

10.05.2015 Brexit / UK Politics

Parameters for the UK’s in-or-out EU referendum

The prospect of the UK holding an in-or-out of the EU referendum fills me with dread, but debate of the merits of holding this vote, and how each side might frame its messages are topics for blog entries in future.

15.09.2014 EU Politics

David Cameron EU Referendum Speech 2017 (find-replace from Aberdeen 2014)

Fast forward to 2017, and somehow David Cameron is still Prime Minister, and the UK (or rUK?) is facing its referendum on remaining in the EU. The polls show a clear lead for keeping the UK in the EU (the

04.08.2014 Brexit / UK Politics

Sorry British Bankers’ Association – British influence in the EU has already fallen off a cliff, and it’s not to do with staff

Gergely Polner (@eurocrat on Twitter) normally knows his stuff about the EU. Sometime spokesperson for the Hungarian Presidency of the EU (still the best social media outreach by Presidency), then head of public affairs for the European Parliament in the UK,

09.06.2014 EU Politics

Reinfeldt, Merkel, Cameron and Rutte in a boat – a roundup

So embattled Swedish PM Reinfeldt invited Merkel, Cameron and Rutte to Harpsund and took them out in a small rowing boat (news summary here), and let photographers take pictures of this. Here’s the original: The Junckermonster – my own effort

08.06.2014 EU Politics

What does “EU reform” actually mean?

A tweet by Philip Oltermann caught my eye: https://x.com/philipoltermann/status/475592040278138880 David Cameron is doing his best to spin himself, and his opposition to Jean Claude Juncker as Commission President, as being the ‘reformer’ versus a defender of the status quo, or

07.04.2014 EU Politics

How is David Cameron not going to be marginalised this summer in the EU’s political games?

I’ve previously written about how the UK is absent from the EU’s Presidential Election (otherwise known as the top candidate, or Spitzenkandidat process), and while the essential content of that earlier post remains valid, I have reflected further about the

27.02.2014 EU Politics

Merkel in London – a case study in political tweeting

Angela Merkel spoke in London earlier today, and – as could have been predicted in advance – it was one of the most interesting political stories of the day in UK and indeed EU and German politics. A BBC story

27.02.2014 EU Politics

So what did we learn from Merkel in London. Rather little.

I suppose Angela Merkel’s speech today to the members of the House of Commons and House of Lords was what was to be expected. High on vague sounding phrases, and low on commitment. Open Europe put out a table at