With fewer than 100 days to go until the Scottish independence referendum, Better Together is claiming its biggest catch since David Bowie: Barack Obama. At his joint press conference with David Cameron at the G7 in Brussels, Obama said:
There is a referendum process in place and it is up to the people of Scotland.
The United Kingdom has been an extraordinary partner to us. From the outside at least, it looks like things have worked pretty well.
And we obviously have a deep interest in making sure that one of the closest allies we will ever have remains a strong, robust, united and effective partner.
Although he added that “ultimately these are decisions that are to be made by the folks there”, he made no attempt to disguise where his sympathies lay.
Better Together was quick to respond with a mocked-up version of Obama’s iconic 2008 campaign poster entitled “Nope” (see below).
Douglas Alexander said: “I welcome this important contribution by President Obama. His clear statement of support for the UK staying together will resonate with many of us here in Scotland.
“As a global statesman President Obama understands that interdependence is a defining feature of our modern world, and that building bridges, not putting up new barriers, is the challenge of our generation.”
But whether this will help to swing voters behind the No campaign, or instead be regarded as more unwanted foreign meddling, remains to be seen.
Obama also made it clear where he stands on the other referendum occupying Westminster, that promised by David Cameron on EU membership. He said it was “hard to imagine” how Britain would benefit from being outside of the organisation. Here’s the full quote:
With respect to the EU, we share a strategic vision with Great Britain on a whole range of international issues and so it’s always encouraging for us to know that Great Britain has a seat at the table in the larger European project.
I think in light of the events that we are going to be commemorating tomorrow, it’s important to recall that it was the steadfastness of Great Britain that in part allows us to be here in Brussels in the seat of a unified and extraordinarily prosperous Europe.
It’s hard for me to imagine that project going well in the absence of Great Britain and I think it’s also hard for me to imagine that it would be advantageous for Great Britain to be excluded from political decisions that have an enormous impact on its economic and political life.
This is why we have elections, and we’ll see the arguments made, and I’m sure the people of Great Britain will make the right decision.
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