David Cameron’s apparently jinxed speech on the EU will now be delivered on Monday. That’s according to today’s FT, which reports that as Downing Street advisers gathered to discuss the Algerian crisis and reschedule the speech, “Cameron made it clear he wanted to give it on Monday”.
Whether or not the Prime Minister gets his way largely depends on the outcome of the hostage standoff, with no guarantee that all British citizens will be accounted for by the end of the weekend. But has Number 10 considered another potential obstacle? Monday 21 January is also the date of Barack Obama’s second inauguration. Since 20 January – presidential Inauguration Day – is a Sunday, only a private ceremony will be held with the public ceremony, as is traditional in such circumstances, pushed back to the following day. It will be the seventh time in US history that the constitutionally mandated inauguration date has fallen on a Sunday, with Ronald Reagan the last president to be inaugurated on a Monday in 1985.
Given the attention that will be on Obama and the US administration’s publicly expressed scepticism of Cameron’s EU strategy, Downing Street would be advised to postpone the speech again. According to a White House readout, Obama told Cameron on Thursday that “the United States values a strong UK in a strong European Union, which makes critical contributions to peace, prosperity, and security in Europe and around the world.” The US, which has long sought to support European integration (recall Henry Kissinger’s question, “Who do I call when I want to speak to Europe?”), has been troubled by speculation that the UK could withdraw from the EU at some point in the next five years. Earlier this month, Philip Gordon, the US assistant secretary for European affairs, warned that “referendums have often turned countries inwards”. He added: “every hour at an EU summit spent debating the institutional makeup of the European Union is one less hour spent talking about how we can solve our common challenges of jobs, growth, and international peace around the world.”
Number 10 has already been forced to move the speech once to avoid a diplomatic incident. After months of delays, Cameron was due to deliver his address on 22 January but Angela Merkel’s office complained that this would clash with celebrations to mark the celebrations to mark the 50th anniversary of the landmark Élysée Treaty between France and Germany, which cemented the two countries’ post-war reconciliation.
Tory MPs were promised an address from Cameron on Europe as long ago as last autumn but when the speech failed to materialise this was changed to “before Christmas”. When this deadline too was missed, Cameron ill-advisedly remarked at a press gallery lunch in Westminster: “Thanks for reminding me that my Europe speech remains as yet unmade. This is a tantric approach to policy-making: it’ll be even better when it does eventually come.” But Monday would appear the wrong day to deliver.
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