Obama: EU Needs U.K.'s Leadership on Refugee Crisis

By rorya On 4/22/16 at 8:24 PM

Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron and President Barack Obama attend a press conference Friday in central London. Obama has urged Britain to remain in the EU. Ben Stansall/Reuters

President Barack Obama has urged the U.K. to stay in the European Union to help tackle Europe’s mounting refugee crisis—which he called a “major national security issue”—as part of a long-planned intervention in Britain’s upcoming EU membership referendum.
The president also addressed anti-EU campaigners who say that Britain could secure stronger trade links with the U.S. in the event of a “Brexit,” saying that the U.K. would be at “the back of the queue” for a trade deal with America if it left the bloc.
Subscribe now - Free phone/tablet charger worth over $60 At the core of Obama’s argument, laid out in a press conference in London on Friday, was a simple point: The U.S. wants to have a partner it can trust acting within Europe. Obama said he wanted British Prime Minister David Cameron “in the conversation” about how to handle migration into Europe from Africa and elsewhere because, “I want somebody who’s smart and common sense and tough, and is thinking as I do.”
As the president spoke, the two men stood side by side, working to reinforce an image of unity both political and personal. “David and I share an extraordinary partnership,” Obama said, after each man had discussed shared experiences, from international summits to games of table tennis.
Many in Britain’s pro-EU camp think their case will be bolstered by an endorsement from Obama, who enjoys extraordinary popularity in the U.K. Meanwhile, a demonstration of Cameron’s apparent importance to the leader of the free world could help to revive the pro-EU prime minister’s flagging poll ratings, which have taken a hit following near-daily attacks from popular “Brexit” advocates such as London Mayor Boris Johnson.
Johnson and other anti-EU campaigners have accused Obama of hypocrisy for recommending that the U.K. submit to impositions on its national sovereignty that they believe the president would never allow in his own country, and said Obama should keep out of a British debate.
Johnson also was accused of resorting to “dog whistle” politics when he claimed on Friday that Obama had had a bust of former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill removed from the Oval Office in part because of ”the part-Kenyan president's ancestral dislike of the British Empire.”
Obama had no time for either point. He acknowledged that it was for the U.K. to decide whether it left the EU, insisting he “was not coming here to fix any votes.” But, he said, many of the anti-EU lobby had been speculating about the U.S.’s likely behavior in terms of trading with a post-Brexit U.K., so “I figured you might want to hear it from the president of the United States what the United States is going to do.” He said a trade deal between the U.S. and Britain might well one day be negotiated, but it would not be America’s top priority.
As for Churchill: “Love the guy,” said Obama, who clarified that he continued to display a bust of Churchill outside his office, but had replaced the second bust his predecessor George W. Bush kept inside the office with a figure of Martin Luther King as a “reminder” of the “hard work” done by others that “allowed me to have the privilege of holding this office.”
Dominic Raab, a Conservative MP and a campaigner for Britain to leave the EU, said in response: “We want more international cooperation after we 'Vote Leave,' but EU is not fit for purpose and cannot cope with the multiple crises we face.
“The president made clear that uncontrolled immigration into the EU is a threat to national security,” he added. “I agree—that is why it is safer to take back control so that we can stop terror suspects from Europe coming into the U.K.”