EU referendum: Prime Minister David Cameron pleads with mayor of London Boris not to join with Ukip leader Nigel Farage and former Respect MP George Galloway
Prime Minister David Cameron has made a last-ditch attempt to woo mayor of London Boris Johnson into campaigning for Britain to remain in the European Union, pleading for the mayor's support on live national television this morning.
"I'd say to Boris as I say to everyone else – we will be safer, stronger, better off inside the EU," Cameron said on the BBC's Andrew Marr Show, adding, "I think the prospect of linking arms with Nigel Farage and George Galloway and taking a leap into the dark is the wrong step for our country."
Galloway, who was the Respect Party MP for Bradford West until last year and is now running for mayor of London, was the surprise guest at a Grassroots Out (GO) campaign rally last Friday night. Farage, the Ukip leader, also took to the stage at the campaign event.
"If Boris and others really care about getting things done in our world, the EU is one of the ways in which we get things done," Cameron added this morning.
Johnson is widely expected to announce that he will campaign for the UK to leave the EU later today.
Liam Fox, the Conservative former defence minister who is campaigning for the UK to leave the EU, rejected Cameron's comments this morning, saying on Sky’s Murnaghan programme that the Prime Minister would likewise be forced to share the stage with his political opponents while campaigning for Britain to remain in the EU.
"People say how could you be in the same campaign as George Galloway and others," Fox said. "But the prime minister is going to have to link arms with Nicola Sturgeon and Jeremy Corbyn on that side of the argument, not a pretty picture I have to say."