EU MEMBERSHIP

London mayor accuses Obama of hypocrisy

Obama Wounded Warrior Ride Obama is expected to repeat his support for Britain's EU membership when he visits Britain next week | AP
  • "I just find it absolutely bizarre that we are being lectured by the Americans about giving up our sovereignty and giving up control when the Americans won't even sign up to the international convention on the law of the seas."

London Mayor Boris Johnson on Saturday accused US President Barack Obama of "hypocrisy" over his support for Britain to remain in the European Union (EU).

Johnson, who backs an EU exit, told the BBC that the Americans "wouldn't dream of sharing (their) sovereignty" as Britain had done.

"I don't know what he is going to say but, if that is the American argument then it is nakedly hypocritical. The Americans would never dream of it," he said.

The US president is expected to repeat his support for Britain's EU membership when he visits Britain next week.

"I think that President Obama has got a perfect right to make any intervention that he wants. Indeed I welcome the views of everybody in this debate."

"I just find it absolutely bizarre that we are being lectured by the Americans about giving up our sovereignty and giving up control when the Americans won't even sign up to the international convention on the law of the seas, let alone the International Criminal Court," Mayor Johnson said.

He also reiterated his view that British Prime Minister David Cameron should stay on as prime minister even if voters backed leaving.

On Friday evening at a rally in Manchester, Johnson said leaving the EU would be a "glorious alternative" to a current system based on "the whims of unelected bureaucrats".

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