Nigel Lawson offers to lead British exit campaign

The UK’s former finance minister Nigel Lawson has said he would lead the campaign in David Cameron’s Conservative Party for Britain to exit the EU, saying the prime minister would fail to win significant concessions in his reform bid.

Lawson, chancellor of the exchequer from 1983-89 under Conservative prime minister Margaret Thatcher, said it was time for Cameron to set out red lines in his attempts to renegotiate Britain’s relationship with the EU before an in/out referendum by the end of 2017.

He said he had accepted the position as president of Conservatives for Britain, saying he believed Cameron was unlikely to achieve significant concessions in his renegotiation such as controlling migration from EU countries to Britain.