US President Barack Obama yesterday made an impassioned appeal for Britain to remain in the European Union, saying membership had magnified Britain’s place in the world and made the bloc stronger and more outward looking.
Fearful that a British exit could weaken the West, Obama arrived in London to applaud Britain’s EU membership which he said had helped make the world freer, richer and better able to tackle everything from migration to terrorism.
Praising Britain’s “outsized” influence in the world, Obama invoked the interlinked history of the two countries and the tens of thousands of Americans lying in European war graves as his reason for speaking as “a friend” on the June 23 referendum.
“The European Union doesn’t moderate British influence - it magnifies it,” he wrote in an article placed on page 20 of the eurosceptic Daily Telegraph newspaper under the headline ‘As your friend, I tell you that the EU makes Britain even greater.’  The remarks of Obama, who opinion polls show is popular in Britain, undercut one of the most passionate arguments of the opponents of EU membership: that Britain could prosper on an equal basis with global powers such as the US and China.
Obama said Britain’s closest ally wanted it to remain in the club it joined in 1973 to bolster trade and strengthen the 28-member bloc, which Washington views as a pillar of stability.
“The US 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”.
Obama later attended a dinner at Windsor Castle with Queen Elizabeth, who celebrated her 90th birthday on Thursday, and her husband Prince Philip.
Campaigners for Britain’s EU membership, including Prime Minister David Cameron, who is leading the “In” campaign, will welcome Obama’s intervention, which led news broadcasts on British television.
But the president’s comments drew scorn from opponents of Britain’s EU membership. New York-born London Mayor Boris Johnson, who heads the “Out” campaign, said that he did not want to be lectured by Americans about EU membership and that the US would never countenance such a transfer of sovereignty.
“For the US 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,” Johnson wrote in the Sun newspaper.
“It is incoherent. It is inconsistent, and yes it is downright hypocritical,” Johnson said.
Opinion polls indicate that British voters are leaning towards the “In” camp but many remain undecided. “In” campaigners are concerned that young voters may not turn out to vote.
The US government, and many US banks and companies, fear a Brexit would cause market turmoil, diminish the clout of its strongest European ally, hurt London’s global financial hub status, cripple the EU and weaken Western security.
“Now is a time for friends and allies to stick together,” Obama said. “Together, the US, the UK, and the European Union have turned centuries of war in Europe into decades of peace, and worked as one to make this world a safer, better place.”