Barack Obama has urged Britain to stay in the EU, saying the world needed the UK’s influence within Europe.
The US President, who has arrived in Britain for talks with David Cameron and lunch with the Queen, said membership of the European Union magnified the UK’s status on the global stage.
His intervention in the bitter EU referendum debate led to claims of hypocrisy from Brexit campaigners, who had urged him to “butt out” of the UK’s decision on June 23.
Writing in the Daily Telegraph, the president highlighted the special relationship between his country and the UK “forged as we spilled blood together on the battlefield”.
“As citizens of the United Kingdom take stock of their relationship with the EU, you should be proud that the EU has helped spread British values and practices – democracy, the rule of law, open markets – across the continent and to its periphery,” he said.
“The European Union doesn’t moderate British influence – it magnifies it. A strong Europe is not a threat to Britain’s global leadership; it enhances Britain’s global leadership.
“The United States sees how your powerful voice in Europe ensures that Europe takes a strong stance in the world, and keeps the EU open, outward looking, and closely linked to its allies on the other side of the Atlantic. So the US and the world need your outsized influence to continue – including within Europe.”
Mr Obama said the deaths of thousands of Americans in world wars in Europe showed the strength of the ties between the US, UK and the continent.
“I will say, with the candour of a friend, that the outcome of your decision is a matter of deep interest to the United States,” he said.
“The tens of thousands of Americans who rest in Europe’s cemeteries are a silent testament to just how intertwined our prosperity and security truly are. And the path you choose now will echo in the prospects of today’s generation of Americans as well.”
Writing in the Sun, Brexit-backing London mayor Boris Johnson said: “For the United States to tell us in the UK that we must surrender control of so much of our democracy – it is a breathtaking example of the principle of do as I say but not as I do.”
Ukip leader Nigel Farage said: “President Obama should butt out. This is an unwelcome interference from the most anti-British American president there has ever been.”
