Cameron's comments show we need not fear Brexit, says MP Glyn Davies
MP Glyn Davies has said David Cameron's unguarded comments at the World Economic Forum prove that the scare stories about Britain leaving the EU were unfounded.
Mr Davies, MP for Montgomeryshire, spoke out after the former prime minister was caught on camera talking to steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal about Britain's prospects after Brexit.
Footage captured by Channel 5 News showed Mr Cameron telling the businessman that Brexit was going better than he expected it would.
Mr Mittal was heard telling Mr Cameron “everyone is talking about Brexit”.
The former PM replied: “Yes, well I know, it’s frustrating.
"As I keep saying it’s a mistake, not a disaster. It’s turned out less badly than we first thought.”
Mr Davies, who supported Britain leaving the EU in the 2016 referendum, said the comments showed how the Remain campaign had overstated the consequences of Brexit in the run-up to the vote.
"It's a very different story from the Project Fear that was being pumped out before the referendum," he said.
"He is right in a sense, but personally, I don’t think it’s any sort of mistake.
"Even those of use who voted in favour of leaving the EU knew perfectly well it would be a difficult process, and it created a lot of uncertainty.
"I never believed it would be anything other than difficult, but the decision to leave and the negotiations have been much less disagreeable than I might have expected."
Mr Davies said he believed there was goodwill from other EU leaders, as demonstrated during last week's visit by French president Emmanuel Macron.
"These stories in the media about the EU wanting to punish Britain get much media coverage, but I don't really believe them.
"I think every leader in the EU, as we saw with President Macron last week, they represent their own countries, and they want a deal that is best for their own country.
"I think the EU now wants to make it work.
"Sure it has created uncertainty, but it won’t be long until we think it an inspired decision by the British people."
During the referendum campaign, Mr Cameron described a leave vote in the referendum as “the gamble of the century”.
He warned it could have extremely serious consequences for the British economy.
Former Ukip leader Nigel Farage, who has been campaigning since the 1990s for Britain to leave the EU, posted a video clip of the conversation on Twitter, with the caption "Busted".
It is not the first time Mr Cameron has been caught out by broadcast microphones.
In 2015, ahead of a speech in Leeds on regional devolution, the then-prime minister joked: “We just thought people in Yorkshire hated everyone else, we didn’t realise they hated each other so much.”
His predecessor Gordon Brown also found himself in hot water when a microphone caught him describing Rochdale pensioner Gillian Duffy
Mr Cameron is attending the World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland, a meeting of the world's most influential people including leaders from business, politics, academia and the trade union movement.
Theresa May is set to meet Donald Trump at the event, the first time a sitting US president has attended the event in person since Bill Clinton went in 2000.
