Cameron never 'liked' the EU and glad he called referendum

Cameron never 'liked' the EU and glad he called referendum

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David Cameron has reinvented himself as a Brexiteer - saying he never 'liked' the EU and is glad he called the referendum.

The former Prime Minister, whose political career was brought to a shuddering close when he lost the historic vote last year, made the comments as he addressed an event in Ukraine.

It is not known whether he was paid for the speech at the National University in Kiev - although he has racked up hundreds of thousands of pounds in earnings since leaving Downing Street last July.



Mr Cameron told the audience: "I think it is worth understanding that Britain always was uncertain, in fact opposed to the idea of the deeper and more integrated political union.

'We looked at the European flag and we thought, "well, we don't really like the European flag, we've got our own flag".

'We looked at the European parliament and we didn't really like the European parliament. We've got our own parliament, which we are very proud of.'



Despite masterminding the desperate Project Fear campaign with George Osborne in a bid to keep the UK in the Brussels club, Mr Cameron said he felt the same way about the European institutions.

'I led the campaign to stay in and I didn't like the European flag and the European parliament,' he said.

'We were always uncertain about that political union element. I was passionate about my side of the argument, I threw myself into the argument, I made every argument I could, I fought as hard as I could, but I knew that if I lost I would have to think about resigning.

'Having argued so strongly the way I did, I knew it would be hard to have the credibility to continue to take the country forward in the direction that people wanted it to go in.'

The speech was delivered as Theresa May gave effect to the outcome of the referendum by triggering Article 50 - the formal process for leaving the EU.

The UK's envoy Sir Tim Barrow handed over a signed letter invoking the Lisbon Treaty mechanism to European Council president Donald Tusk in Brussels.