Obama should stay out of EU campaign, says Lord David Owen in visit to region

Lord David Owen, former foreign secretary with half a century spent in Westminster, had some tough words for both Prime Minister David Cameron and the US president when he spoke in Welshpool last night.

He has returned to the campaign trail for the first time in almost 30 years to put his weight behind Vote Leave.

In a highly critical attack on Obama's intervention he said that while full of respect for the president, he should not have got involved.

"There has been a long tradition that US presidential visits to this country do not take place close to General Election periods. The reasons for this are obvious and hitherto scrupulously observed by Washington DC," he said.

"In the autumn of 1978, as Foreign Secretary I mused about possibly inviting President Carter to repeat his very successful 1977 visit to Britain before October 1979. In the event we had an election in May.

"President Obama's first Secretary of the Treasury has used some very tough language about the Eurozone.

"No wonder many British people are puzzled to say the least why President Obama such in the light of his and our failure to reform the Eurozone, come into the midst of our Referendum campaign to urge us to remain in the EU.

"He is fearful that if Britain leaves the EU it will precipitate the collapse of the Eurozone. He sees the Brits leaving as an addition to the risk.

"I strongly believe that this once in a generation chance – this referendum – gives us the opportunity to leave before the Eurozone collapse."

The fact that, at the age of 78, Lord Owen has returned to a life of campaigning is a sign of his passion and his belief that, unless Britain leaves the EU it will be sucked into and damaged by the collapse of the Eurozone.

"I am involved through sorrow rather than anger," he says.

But he said he is angry about David Cameron's role.

"His actions have been abysmal, particularly in the campaign of fear that he is waging," he added.

Lord Owen was the youngest Foreign Secretary for 40 years when he took on the role for Labour in 1977 at the age of 38. Four years later he left the Labour Party to be one of the four founding members of the SDP, the Social Democratic Party. In the past he was a supporter of the Europe Union, the Common Market as, he says, it was then.

Now he says: "It has become a dysfunctional organisation that can neither reform nor restructure."

And he says when faced with being a member of such an organisation you have two choices.

"You can reluctantly remain in the organisation or be brave enough to leave."

Lord Owen is convinced that the Eurozone is on the verge of collapse and says Britain must leave before that happens.

"You cannot have a currency without a country. The Euro is a nonsense. If we became part of the Eurozone we would become a Texas or a California, a province of Europe."

His views on Europe are despite his love for one of the European countries in crisis. Lord Owen and his wife have a house in Greece and his says it pains him to see the country in disarray.

"Last year there were no drugs to be had in the pharmacies and strict limits on money that could be withdrawn from cash points. It is a complete mess.

"I had planned to be in Greece now, writing my new book. But I then heard a broadcast from three politicians telling the people of Britain why they should remain in the EU. It was at that moment I knew I had to get involved. I decided I had one fight left in me."

He says he understands the worries of farmers and others involved in agriculture over losing the EU subsidies.

"I can only urge farmers to trust that we will look after them. I would say, think back to before the EU and the Common Agricultural Policy and how you managed then.

"Farmers have become used to the subsidies and the ways of CAP and I realise that, in terms of agriculture, there is a net gain. However too many people follow the rule 'keep a hold of nurse for fear of something worse'," he said.