MY BAD

David Cameron: I ‘Deeply Regret’ How I Handled Brexit

The former British prime minister expressed regret for his Brexit strategy in his forthcoming memoir.

Former British Prime Minister David Cameron said he was sorry for setting in motion the events that lead to Brexit. In an excerpt published Saturday in the lead-up to the release next month of his new book For The Record, Cameron expressed regret for how he handled the referendum in 2016 on whether Britain should leave the European Union. “I deeply regret the outcome and accept that my approach failed,” Cameron said. “The decisions I took contributed to that failure. I failed.” The comments represented Cameron’s most public act of contrition since he left office following the surprise outcome of the Brexit vote. A supporter of the UK’s membership in the EU, Cameron called the 2016 vote believing that the motion would be handily defeated. The decision plunged the UK into a yearslong political battle about Britain’s exit from the EU that continues to roil British politics.