Obama warns Britain against leaving EU

Hmm. I'm not so sure its a good idea for an American president to so publicly intervene here.

Then again, that Obama can do this shows how close our two nations really are.

Finally, what is a queue?

Obama needs to realize that UK has done very well for itself when it kept the EU at arm's length. First it avoided the euro-crisis and then also the Schengen's migrant crisis.

The EU is getting bogged down on a number of fronts, and the Brits have the luxury of watching it from afar.

Johnson also repeated claims that “part-Kenyan” Obama may have removed a statue of Winston Churchill from the Oval Office at the start of his first term out of “ancestral dislike of the British Empire”.

Jeeze, you have them in the UK?

Finally, what is a queue?

Not something you play pool with... and not an indication for something to happen.

“at its best when it is helping to lead a strong Europe”.

When does Britain lead anything? It is a reactionary sidekick of the US, a fact those who complain about sovereignty being lost to Brussels seem happy to overlook. Obama is not alone as an American who wants influence in the EU on things like one-sided trade deals through a totally supine Britain.

Black Sabbath,

Finally, what is a queue?

Don't know what computer system you are using or if yours does this or not, but on a Mac if you right click a word, you get its definition,

England needs to leave the EU. If anything, their standing in the world would rise as they become independent of bureaucrats in Brussels, and the leadership of France and Germany.

Churchill and Thatcher were somehow able to muddle through their world leadership role without the EU. I have faith they can figure it out again.

An inept, unwarranted and unnecessary intervention from US President Barack Obama.

The EU share of world GDP has fallen from 30% (1980) to currently just 17%. A market of 600 million commanding just 17% of world GDP. This and the structure of the single currency is among the fundamental flaws inherent within the EU for all member states not just the UK.

Obama needed to focus on the fundamentals, completion of the single market, but foolishly fell back on threats.

Obama may have removed a statue of Winston Churchill from the Oval Office

This is very disrespectful. W. Churchill was an diligent wartime leader for the UK and proved to be a great ally. Too bad obama himself isn't a half-as-good leader as W. Churchill was.

Obama may have removed a statue of Winston Churchill from the Oval Office This is very disrespectful. W. Churchill was an diligent wartime leader for the UK and proved to be a great ally. Too bad obama himself isn't a half-as-good leader as W. Churchill was.

Big Mouth Boris is wrong as usual. The fact is there were two busts. One was on loan and returned, the other remains in the White House. So Boris decided to believe the rightwing US nutjobs who spread lies to their sheep.

Obama didn't remove the statue of Churchill. There has been one in the White House since the 1960s. It was being restored and Blair lent Bush an almost identical one which Bush put in the Oval Office. After Bush left office everything was cleared out and returned, as is usual. The original and restored Churchill bust is still in the White House. Mayor Johnson, as a Churchill fan boy and recent writer of another biography of Churchill, just wanted to stir up trouble by mentioning the lie so as to undermine Obama and his message in front of the British people, many of whom still revere Churchill. This is as part of his campaign for leaving Europe and for promoting his own personal ego and plans for the leadership of the country. He should not be taken seriously.

Obama didn't remove the statue of Churchill. There has been one in the White House since the 1960s.

Okay then, good. Thanks for clearing that up.

@paulinusa. The latter part of my comment still stands though.

Too bad obama himself isn't a half-as-good leader as W. Churchill was.

Churchill would not've been in Cuba, doing 'the wave' at a ball game w/ Castro while the heart of Europe (Brussels) was being attacked by radical islam.

Britains are no different to all other EU members: they want the best of both worlds I.e be part of EU when it benefits them and out when it doesn't. I don't blame them for that.

They have forever been pushing the 'special status' thing, the island vs continentals rhetoric. All other EU nations would do the same.

Obama the marxist clearly sees that the collectivists on the Continent have more power than in Britain. He would happily consign America to the Communist morass but for the unfortunate losses in Congressional elections he has suffered.

At the back of the queue? Who else is in it, and does Obama usually use British English?

shows how close our two nations really are.

Britain and USA aren't as close as you might think, and we haven't been for a long time. The past few Prime Ministers have been close to the current and the previous POTUS, but they do not reflect the feelings of the country as a whole. I get the feeling that many Britons don't think highly of the US at all, so don't expect us to suffer because of our "friendship" with America.

Jean Claude Juncker recently admitted that the EU meddles too much in the affairs of its residents without giving much consideration for the consequences. Being a part of the EU has done much more harm for the UK than good. If we stay now, we would effectively become hostages of the EU, bending over backwards to do everything they tell us. Our immigration situation is out of hand as it is, but the EU wants us to take in a further 3.3 million. And do what with them exactly? Our NHS has all but gone to hell, housing these immigrants will be difficult at best, and then there's the fact that an unknown number of criminals have entered Britain amidst the masses of law-abiding immigrants. Despite the terrorist attacks in Paris and Brussels, the EU wants us to take in more, even knowing full well that ISIS extremists are bound to be among them.

Staying in the EU will be a disaster at best. We need to leave it, before it's too late.

Finally, what is a queue?

A waiting line. You know, there's this remarkable invention called Google which could have answered your question so that you didn't need to ask it.

Who else is in it, and does Obama usually use British English?

Good point... when quoting we probably should use the version of which the speaker is native... maybe?

"Obama didn't remove the statue of Churchill."

Yes he did. He replaced it with Martin Luther KIng in the Oval Office, according to the latest Guardian article. Churchill is still in the White House but was placed outside the office.

"(Boris) should not be taken seriously."

Um, Boris was correct in references on the Oval Office. Kinda gives him credibility, a quality his critics need to work on.

This from the Evening Standard talking about Johnson:

"The Tory candidate has apologised for articles he had written in which he referred to black children as "piccaninnies" and to the "watermelon smiles" of Africans greeting foreign visitors."

It seems Johnson tends not to have positive views of people with African ancestry. His magazine was in trouble for publishing an article about black people having lower IQs.

Not a very pleasant man. I get the sense he wouldn't have a good view of Obama no matter what the 'part Kenyan' said about a possible Brexit.

At the back of the queue? Who else is in it, and does Obama usually use British English?

Interesting that a conference held in English had to be re-translated into English to be posted here, and the words get screwed along the way.........what was said was, "back of the line", not queue.

How difficult is this, Jeff Lee? After a president leaves office it is usual procedure to clear out the Oval office. They cleared out the bust of Churchill that Bush had put in there (probably along with all the tools for cutting brush and old pretzel packets). Obama did not physically carry the bust out of the office and put it out the way. So Boris is wrong. Nor is Obama under any obligation to return the loaned statue of Churchill to the place Bush had it. In truth this particular bust was not America's anyway, cos it was loaned by Blair to Bush. Obama can do what he likes. If Martin Luther King is his hero then he is entitled to put a bust of him there. The fact remains that, just like always, there is a bust of Churchill in the White House. And Obama sees it every day.

The central bankers of London and the US have a great relationship, everyone else is not important.

@Wipeout

Good post. The Thatcher/Churchill image of the UK standing up against Europe is the usual rubbish ( 'garbage' to some of our less than inquisitive American friends ) trotted out by the right.

I'd just add that it's pretty hard to tell how Thatcher truly felt about any issue before becoming leader. Enoch Powell commented on her great capacity to go with the flow. She almost never voted against the party line on any issue - she was ambitious, not principled, in those days. Johnson is another. I honestly believe he couldn't care less about this issue but has just made a calculated risk.

“The UK’s going to be at the back of the queue,” Obama added.

Nothing speaks like a good friend than threatening with economic punishments.

Nothing speaks like a good friend than threatening with economic punishments.

indeed

Asked what would happen if Britain did vote to quit, Obama said that while “maybe at some point” it could seal a trade >>deal with the U.S., “it’s not going to happen any time soon.”

A little sound bite from an ineffectual President on the way out.

It's up to the Brits to conduct & manage their own affairs where the UK is concerned.

Speaking of my man Winston, and to paraphrase him:

The best argument I've seen against democracy is the Brexit referendum.

There are no concrete plans being presented to voters - any plans at all for that matter - from the Leave camp, should Britain decide to do so.

This referendum has nothing to do with the will of the people it's idiot politicians playing with fire for votes, much like the Scottish referendum. A cancer that has festered within the disgraceful Conservative party since the time of Maggie.

I welcome Mr Obama's eleqouent comments. There were no threats, just logic and cold, hard advice from a friend warning a close friend not to do something you'll regret...

The United Kingdom is bereft of leadership. We are governed by idiots.

Isn't it healthy that a US president tells it how it is. The truth of the matter is that economically the US would prefer Britain to remain in the EU. And thats exactly what Obama said.

All those Brits complaining about how Obama should mind his own business - what do you expect? The US is far more powerful that the UK, so the hard truth is that the US gets to call the shots.

As for Boris Bike Johnson. Winston Churchill's great-grandson was appalled at Johnson's criticism of Obama and was not happy that Johnson used his great-grandfather in his politicking.

What's priceless Tiger are those in the Leave campaign claiming not everyone in the US feels the same way. Their references happen to be the Insane Republican party and that scary, scary man Ted Cruz.

If anything, that is one more shot in the arm for staying in Europe. Britain's conservatives are on the far left compared all to their insane counterparts across the pond...

Mads, as far as I'm concerned may the best vote win re Britain and the EU referendum. I'm glad that it will come down to a democratic vote by the electorate. I believe that the overall feeling amongst Brits is that they want out of the EU - it's a British characteristic that the UK is an island independent of Europe.

Obama had the right to tell it how it is. Only the foolish believe that he should keep his nose out.

Can understand the pro-Brexit campaigners aren't happy about it but fact is Obama didn't break any taboos by speaking to the British public on an issue they'll be deciding on and that'll affect them and many of the rest of us. Now they can make a better informed decision. It's not as if Obama's telling the Brits to vote Labour or Tory.

As for he US rightwing Obama-obsessesed/ racist alliance well... no surprises there. They'll jump on any excuse to criticize their president no matter how tenuous, nonsensical, silly the charge.

Tiger,

I'd agree with your principles normally. This is really a vote for the soul of the Conservative party as I said earlier. Disgraceful political pandering from people like BoJo and Farage.

The British people are deluding themselves that leaving the EU will solve all our problems. Notably immigration. Only it won't. There is no real economic strategy being laid out the Leave campaign and that in itself should have every single alarm bell ringing.

Other than my own personal worry being a dual British / French national and having business in both countries, I think we're better off together - especially in these uncertain times. Should Britain really leave it is the end of the EU. All bets will be off and the potential for chaos is a terrifying prospect.

Should we stay, I hope it puts the fear of God into the EU ineptocrats enough for them to seriously reform. I do understand why people are peeved with the EU, and it must change or die.

"As for he US rightwing Obama-obsessesed/ racist alliance well... no surprises there. They'll jump on any excuse to criticize their president no matter how tenuous, nonsensical, silly the charge."

It's interesting that the reason for this referendum, UKIP, is a party nearly as cracked, racist and vicious as the US Republican Party.

On second thoughts, I'm doing UKIP a disservice with 'nearly'. Perhaps, what...30%?

UKIP and Farage were a bigger flog in the election than Milli-Bland. And thats saying something. All that UKIP succeeded in doing was to take working class voters away from Labour, handing power to the ruling landowning gentry.

Farage has been boring us about an EU exit for ages, but he can't be taken seriously anymore.

What is required for a serious vote is the hard economic facts both ways. For a stay vote and for an exit vote. George Wallpaper Osborne has but who believes a word that he says.?

Tiger: What is required for a serious vote is the hard economic facts both ways.

That's why there shouldn't be a vote imo. The fact that the Leave campaign has not presented the hard facts is more than alarming.

Even the Scottish national front had a plan for the independence vote that they lost. And it was a bloody good job they did lose, where would they be now with an economy based on the slumpedprice of oil?

@Tigers

UKIP only won one seat but I think they got 18% of the popular vote in England if memory serves. That's something worth considering and I'm pretty sure most of those voters will vote in the referendum. If anything, their understandable sense of injustice at having only one seat because of our ridiculous voting system will fire them up even more.

The lower the turnout, the higher the chances of an out vote.

Quote Yubaru: At the back of the queue? Who else is in it, and does Obama usually use British English? Interesting that a conference held in English had to be re-translated into English to be posted here, and the words get screwed along the way.........what was said was, "back of the line", not queue.

Actually, if you watch it, he says "queue".

Queue obviously comes from the french word of the same spelling meaning "tail" .

What would the correct American English be? Stand in line?

Is it a big deal if an Anerican politician uses British English when in the UK and addressing what was probably a mostly British audience?

I'm honestly interested if this is an issue for some people.

Scotland warned Britain before,if they will leave EU,they will separate and choose to continue in EU,it was clear strong msg.I dont think Cameron is serious about it,its just for getting more benefits from EU,and less duties.Yes,Britain will loose if they choose to leave.,but also EU needs serious reformations,it wont survive longer like this.

Mr. Obama -- Britain, as a sovereign country, can make its own decisions, thank you.

What would the correct American English be? Stand in line?

Stand in line, line up, get in line, etc. However, the word "queue" isn't unknown here in the US. Many American English speakers use the word, e.g., "queue up" (get in line), "customers waited in a long queue to buy the new iPhone," "waited in long queues to vote," etc, . Perhaps, the word is used most by Americans who've spent some time outside the US. During my military career, I often heard and used the word. Queue is also a familiar computer programming related term "Queues typically, but do not necessarily, order elements in a FIFO (first-in-first-out) manner."

Thanks, Toshi... :)

Obama rode to his presidential victory on his 'yes we can' slogan Well, the EC is run on the lines of 'No you can't !'

It's not democratic and it attempts to fit square pegs into round holes dictating the size of your salad tomato.

Obama needs to save the planet by doing less global pollution in his jet by NOT sticking his nose into a UK (not an American) referendum debate......