The Prime Minister doth protest too much, methinks.
The British public agree; in recent days David Cameron has lost the trust of the electorate. In an astonishing YouGov poll released this week just 18% of respondents trust David Cameron on the EU referendum; the Tory leader is 10% behind the oft-ridiculed Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and a massive 13% behind the Leave campaign front man and potential Tory leadership rival Boris Johnson.
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The controversial former secretary of state for work and pensions Iain Duncan Smith also has better ratings. Nigel Farage is almost equally disastrous, but even the well-refreshed UKIPper does better than the Prime Minister.
Less than one in five voters think Cameron’s Brexit scaremongering is trustworthy – and surely we should not be surprised; his inconsistency is astonishing.
When negotiating changes to the UK relationship with the EU Cameron said:
If we can’t reach such an agreement, and if Britain’s concerns were to be met with a deaf ear, which I do not believe will happen, then we will have to think again about whether this European Union is right for us. As I have said before – I rule nothing out.
He was clear, leaving the EU was low risk – and he was happy to lead us out if he failed to get a few minor adjustments. Having got some, but by no means all, of the trifle Cameron said he wanted, he then changed his position completely:
Can we be so sure peace and stability on our continent are assured beyond any shadow of doubt? Is that a risk worth taking? I would never be so rash to make that assumption.
Then when challenged that he was suggesting Brexit would put the peace and stability of our continent at risk – for a few tweaks to our EU relationship – Cameron flip-flopped again at a pace that would do credit to John Kerry or Donald Trump:
No, I don’t believe that leaving the EU would cause World War Three to break out on the European continent.
His scaremongering, followed by his backtracking has not convinced many – as the YouGov Poll shows.
David Cameron has always been a strong advocate of Turkey joining the EU, stating:
In terms of Turkey’s membership of the EU, I very much support that. That’s a long-standing position of British foreign policy.
However, on Sunday he appeared on national TV, saying that this wouldn’t happen until the year 3,000. People clearly do not trust this “assurance” – the European council (with the full support of the UK) agreed on the 18th March this year to “re-energise” the accession process.
On the same programme Cameron quite rightly pointed out that the UK has a veto on accession – but it is not at all clear that he would use it. Dave previously said:
Turkey deserves its place at the top table of European politics – and that is what I will fight for.
So why is David Cameron telling the electorate not to worry about Turkey joining the EU? Why is he implying it will never happen? When speaking in Ankara in 2010 he was adamant:
My view is clear. I believe it’s just wrong to say that you can guard the camp but not be allowed to sit in the tent. So I will remain the strongest possible advocate for [Turkish] EU membership and for greater influence at the top-table of European diplomacy.
Similar U-turns on the economy have also helped undermine the PM’s credibility. He now says:
If we are doing less trade, less investment, that is going affect our economy. That will make us poorer as a country. In the end, it’s not surprising if your currency falls.
But was just last November that he held an entirely different view:
I am not saying for one moment that Britain couldn’t survive outside the European Union. Of course we could. We are a great country.
He went further, not only would Britain survive it would thrive:
Britain is no longer the sick man of Europe it was in the 1970s – and would continue to thrive outside of the EU.
Cameron allegedly “did his best” to negotiate a deal for the UK – but he did not even meet his Bloomberg speech objectives. By failing to come to terms with the lack of EU concessions obtained, Cameron has missed the opportunity to become a historic statesman; to stand firm, to lead the nation towards Leave. Instead, he has resorted to Project Fear. And the polling is grim for him; Conservatives will no longer celebrate his premiership; he has driven a coach and horses through his own legacy.