British Prime Minister David Cameron took “Project Fear” to another level today as he claimed Islamic State would be “happy” if Britain voted to leave the European Union (EU).
Speaking in London, Mr Cameron claimed that the terror group’s chief, Abu Bark al-Baghdadi, would prefer Britain to leave the EU, as would Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The claim comes just a week after the Prime Minister said Britain risked World War III if it votes to leave the bloc at next month’s referendum.
Mr Cameron today denied he was exaggerating when he claimed conflict in Europe could be ruled out in the event of a Brexit vote.
“I never said if we leave on Thursday, World War Three breaks out on Friday,” he said.
However, he then went on to say: “It is worth asking the question: Who would be happy if we left?
“Putin might be happy, I suspect al-Baghdadi might be happy.”
The claims have been seized upon by Leave campaigners who say that this is a new low in the so-called “Project Fear” scaremongering to try to persuade Brits to stay in the EU.
The Prime Minister’s words come as a new poll by TNS puts the “Leave” camp in the lead for the first time since February. A total of 41 per cent said they would vote to leave the EU, compared to 38 per cent who will vote to stay.
“This poll suggests that we are seeing movement from undecided voters towards the Leave camp, though we will need to wait until the next poll to see if this is a trend or random variation,” said Luke Taylor, head of social and political attitudes at TNS UK.
Earlier today, a leaked letter appeared to show the Prime Minister had been liaising with businesses to back the Remain campaign before he had even concluded his EU renegotiations.
While this was happening, the Prime Minister had told Parliament that he was prepared to advocate a Leave vote if he did not get his way.
Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg said that if the letter is true, then the Prime Minister had misled Parliament, something that is traditionally a resigning matter.