Hunt accuses EU leaders of ‘cowardice’ for backing Juncker

David Cameron admitted on Friday that he faces a harder struggle to persuade Britons to vote to remain in the EU after he suffered an embarrassing defeat in his attempt to block Jean-Claude Juncker from being appointed to the EU’s top job.

Mr Cameron said he had taken “some small steps forward” by securing assurances that Britain’s concerns over the closer integration of the EU had been taken into account, but has been heavily criticised for isolating the UK from key European decision-makers.

Embarrassing defeat

Mr Hunt said it will now be “a lot harder to persuade the British people that Europe can be trusted with a proper reform agenda”, and accused some European leaders of cowardice, “who weren’t prepared to stand up in public and say the things they had said in private”.

Mr Cameron mounted a vehement campaign to deny Mr Juncker the job on the grounds that the 59-year-old veteran of Brussels dealmaking was a federalist committed to expanding the union’s powers, but was defeated by 26-2 in a vote on Friday, with only Hungary joining Britain to block him.

Mr Cameron has since received assurances from German Chancellor Angela Merkel that the EU will address British concerns about the future of the union, but Ukip leader Nigel Farage said she “wasn’t for a moment suggesting that Britain could opt out of the principle of ever closer union”.

Merkel power

“The result of yesterday is to show David Cameron is friendless in Brussels, but ultimately, it’s whatever Chancellor Merkel decides,” he told the BBC.

Fredrik Reinfeldt, the Swedish prime minister, said he was willing to “walk the extra mile” to address British concerns over the EU, saying a five-year strategic document on the future path of the union took British concerns into account.

Britain had previously said that its dissatisfaction with Mr Juncker was “not a unique view” and that privately other capitals had misgivings about his candidacy.

But Mr Cameron had said he continued to believe his fellow leaders were making a “mistake” and that choosing Mr Juncker would be “bad for all of Europe”.