Having weakened his base by leaving the EPP group and facing the same problem as May - to whit, any concession won from the EU was lambasted by the Eurosceptic wing of the party who truly epitomise the saying “give them an inch and they will want a mile” - which was well recognised by the EU by the way, I am curious to know how you think he could have “got tough” with Europe?
Your point B I broadly agree with.
Sorry Norman but that isn’t correct. If you would care to look at https://researchbriefings.parliament.uk/ResearchBriefing/Summary/CBP-7886
you will see that :-
In 2017 the UK made an estimated gross contribution (after the rebate) of £13.0 billion. The UK received £4.1 billion of public sector receipts from the EU, so the UK’s net public sector contribution to the EU was an estimated £8.9 billion.
which at today’s exchange rate equals €10.33 billion.
I guess I mean, Paul, that he could at the very least have threatened the EU (in the nicest possible way) with a referendum in the UK, with the added pressure that he would campaign for Brexit (or Leave as it was known then) unless reforms were forthcoming.
If the EU were sensible they would then, as now, said OK, piss off1.
And the referendum worked out well, didn’t it?
1] Of course this is not generally the way the EU works which is more by consensus and compromise - two words that do not seem to be in the lexicon of the Brexiteers. Also it's not terribly likely for Cameron to have campaigned for Brexit - he was at the Eurosceptic end of Remain but he *was* in the Remain camp. Unlike Corbyn who was firmly in the leave camp and still is.