(13) UK's referendum about its EU membership
Cameron did not think EU referendum would happen, says Tusk (see more in the Guardian article).
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jan/21/donald-tusk-warned-david-cameron-about-stupid-eu-referendum-bbc?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Blogger
Whether then PM David Cameron or someone else, the referendum would have happened one day as after 40 year membership the discussions continued to divide the country and weakened Europe.
But then President Hollande's comment:
"This would not be the first time that a commitment made at an election had not been kept afterwards, but he wanted to show he could negotiate successfully with Europeans.”
Such a comment at the start of his sentence illustrates why the public no longer trust politicians and show little respect. And thus, yes, PM Cameron did as he promised. But indeed, as the second part shows, threatening with a referendum in the hope it will force changes in the EU that favour the UK is not how to negotiate, certainly not when the tactic is obvious. And never depend on hope that an election may solve a possible problem and thus never introduce a problem because the election result may be different from what was hoped as seems to have been the case in PM Cameron's situation when the LibDem were no longer needed to form a government and thus couldn't block that the referendum would be organised.
Further, I think PM Cameron should have kept his promise that he would stay PM, whatever the outcome. Indeed, a Remainer as PM who still honours the outcome may have resulted in a good deal instead of the chaos at this moment. His resignation took many by surprise although should not have done as he often acted differently from what he said. And thus, he was a real politician.
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