![UK and Brussels UK and Brussels](https://www.cer.eu/sites/default/files/styles/spotlight/public/images/spotlight/in_the_press/2014/cameron_23jan13-1400577117.jpg?itok=e3DbkZuY)
UK influence in Brussels wanes as Cameron faces defeat
That lack of clout undermines Cameron’s search for allies to help him repatriate powers from Brussels, a pledge he says will convince voters to opt to stay in the EU, according to Charles Grant, director of the London-based Centre for European Reform. British influence threatens to weaken still further as high-profile Britons in Brussels pack their bags without anyone of caliber to replace them, Grant said in an interview.
“If we send medium-to-lightweight politicians to Brussels, then obviously they’re not going to get good, influential jobs,” said Grant, a biographer of Jacques Delors, commission president from 1985 to 1995. “If you don’t have a good communicator who commands respect, then it will be harder to win a referendum campaign for staying in.”