Say ‘No’ to Brexit Obama tells UK

LONDON, Friday

US President Barack Obama wasted no time in plunging into Britain’s poisonous EU membership debate, arguing against a “Brexit” as he kicked off a visit to the UK.

Obama went to a traditional bastion of euroscepticism, The Daily Telegraph newspaper, to make the case that Britons should vote to remain in the European Union in the June 23 referendum.

Writing in the broadsheet, Obama argued that Britain’s place in the EU magnified its global influence, and its membership was a matter of deep interest to the US.

“I realise that there’s been considerable speculation - and some controversy - about the timing of my visit,” Obama wrote.

Noting that he wanted to mark the 90th birthday of Queen Elizabeth II on Thursday in person - he and First Lady Michelle Obama lunched at Windsor Castle later on Friday - the president was also unusually forthright about his country’s interest in Britain’s EU membership.

POLL CAMPS NECK-AND-NECK

Stressing that the choice was purely for the British people, he wrote: “I will say, with the candour of a friend, that the outcome of your decision is a matter of deep interest to the US.”

“The path you choose now will echo in the prospects of today’s generation of Americans.”

Polls put the pro-EU and Brexit camps neck-and-neck.

Obama’s intervention is an unusual overt foray into the domestic politics of another country.

Seen from Washington, Prime Minister David Cameron’s decision to call a referendum was a bold - if not downright risky gamble - that could leave Britain and the EU badly weakened.

“The EU has helped spread British values and practices - democracy, the rule of law and open markets - across the continent and to its periphery,” Obama wrote.