Sir Menzies Campbell has compared David Cameron's handling of recent European Union negotiations to “the little boy who cried Wolf.”
Speaking to Prospect, Campbell said: “Juncker has been badly handled all round… if it’s true that Cameron threatened to leave then that was not going to help.”
Cameron’s spokesman yesterday refused to rule out campaigning for Britain to leave the EU if European leaders support the appointment of Jean-Claude Juncker to the presidency of the Union. Cameron opposes Juncker's bid.
British politicians, used to our adversarial system, struggle to fit in to the European consensual model of politics, Campbell said. “We talk in absolute values whereas Europeans tend to talk in relative values,” he explained.
“It’s like the little boy who cried wolf; in the end… no-one believed him… What we’re doing, we’re saying we’ll leave and eventually someone will say ‘why don’t you?’” said Campbell.
Campbell was speaking to Prospect for an interview in advance of his appearance at Chalke Valley History Festival alongside Michael Gove, Simon Jenkins, Prospect's Bronwen Maddox and others. Look out for the full interview later this week on the Prospect website.
Buy tickets for the debate "History shows England and Scotland would be better of as separate kingdoms," here.
Menzies Campbell: Britain is "little boy who cried wolf"
Former Liberal Democrat leader says we must be wary of threatening exit too often
June 24, 2014
Menzies Campbell: British politicians must co-operate better with their European counterparts © Steve Punter
