LAST week the American President invoked the memories of British and American servicemen who gave their lives in two world wars to keep us free.
He mistakenly linked this terrible sacrifice to why he thinks we should remain in the EU.
Many people I have spoken to are furious that a man who leads the free world should advise us to hand over our destiny, freedom and democracy to an unaccountable and imploding EU.
Not satisfied with that, Mr Obama then threatened us.
If we voted to leave, he said, we’d go to the ‘back of the queue’ in any future trade negotiations with the USA.
That threat has since been rescinded, and rightly so.
All this from a so-called ‘friend’, who’d been invited here to celebrate Her Majesty’s 90th birthday.
His comments were ill-judged and inappropriate.
Rightly, London Mayor Boris Johnson called Mr Obama’s words “hypocritical” for telling us to “give up sovereignty, when he would do no such thing”.
Mr Johnson has a point.
No American President would ever consider handing over control of borders, courts and budgets in exchange for a trading deal with, for example, Canada and Mexico.
America holds her sovereignty dear, and so do we.
Mr Obama is coming to the end of an unimpressive time in office.
While still admired in Europe, he’s currently considered a ‘lame duck’ president back home, having lost control of both Congress and the Senate to the Republicans.
Like many fading politicians, Mr Obama has resorted to foreign affairs to leave his mark.
However, whether we remain in or out of the EU is our affair.
Let me remind the President, again, that our servicemen and women died to keep us free and that’s what this EU debate is all about.