Thread by @PropertySpot

Some extraordinary passages in Cameron’s book. Imagine the cringe factor of this: he tried to deliver a presentation to Angela Merkel in German, despite the fact that he could "barely speak a word of the language".

In the renegotiation Merkel warned Cameron against arguing for British exceptionalism. He later told himself: "The risks of playing with fire are now safer than watching the fire burn." Err...

Cameron admits that his 2014 conference speech, which raised undeliverable expectations, was aimed at stemming defections to UKIP. Cameron justifies his focus on immigration by saying "the numbers were out of control - you could see it in crowded doctors’ waiting rooms".

Cameron was perplexed that other EU countries saw a distinction between free movement as a function of EU citizenship and immigration.

Cameron seemed surprised that a cap on numbers would not be legal.

Cameron claims that "mission-creep" by European courts had "essentially opened freedom of movement to the world" because of "sham marriages".

In 2014 Cameron said he was close to concluding "there is no point in staying in the European Union" unless his demands were met.

You get the impression he called the referendum not so much to settle the war in the Tory party, but because of his own cognitive dissonance.

At Cameron’s final European Council summit after the referendum he lectured the EU27 leaders about how much of a loss Britain would be, implied Brexit was their fault and said we wouldn’t be leaving if there were fewer EU citizens in the UK… 🤦‍♂️

The overall impression Cameron gives is of a man who was arrogant, out of his depth, pathologically lacking in self-awareness, and now completely in denial about the nature and scale of his political failure.