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卡梅伦出回忆录:对现任首相有话说

2019-09-18来源:和谐英语

英国前首相卡梅伦的回忆录《记录在案》(For the Record)将于9月19日出版,《泰晤士报》和《星期日泰晤士报》日前刊登了这本回忆录的摘要。卡梅伦在这本回忆录中都写了些什么呢?

What he thinks of Boris Johnson
对鲍里斯·约翰逊的看法

Boris Johnson “didn’t believe” in Brexit, but backed the leave campaign to further his career. Johnson wanted to become the “darling of the party” and “didn’t want to risk allowing someone else with a high profile – Michael Gove in particular – to win that crown”, Cameron claims. “The conclusion I am left with is that he risked an outcome he didn’t believe in because it would help his political career.” Furthermore, Cameron claims Johnson privately believed there should be a second referendum to confirm the terms of Brexit – something Johnson has strongly resisted since. He reveals he tried to stop Johnson joining the Brexit campaign by offering him the post of defence secretary. Johnson, he says, believed the leave camp would lose, and if it did win, there could always be a fresh negotiation followed by a second referendum.

卡梅伦称,鲍里斯·约翰逊“不赞同”脱欧,但为了仕途发展选择了支持脱欧运动。约翰逊想成为“党内红人”,“不想冒着让其他高调的人——尤其是迈克尔·戈夫——得宠的风险”。“我得出的结论是,他冒着产生自己都不信任的结果的风险,就因为这有助于他的政治生涯。”此外,卡梅伦还指出,约翰逊私下认为,应该举行第二次公投来确认脱欧条款,而一直以来约翰逊都在强烈抵制脱欧条款。卡梅伦透露,为了阻止约翰逊加入脱欧大军,他曾邀请约翰逊担任国防大臣一职。他说,约翰逊认为脱欧阵营会失败,如果脱欧阵营胜出,肯定会开启新一轮谈判,然后再进行第二次公投。

His opinions on Michael Gove
对迈克尔·戈夫的看法

Cameron turns on Michael Gove, once a close friend, in a blistering attack, referring to him as “mendacious”. He reveals he texted Gove: "You are either a team player or a wanker.” He adds: “One quality shone through, disloyalty. Disloyalty to me and, later, disloyalty to Boris”. While Cameron claims Johnson did not believe in Brexit, he says of Gove: “Michael had backed something he did perhaps believe in, but in the process had broken with his friends – while taking up positions that were completely against his political identity.”

卡梅伦在一次激战中和昔日的好友迈克尔·戈夫反目,并称其“不诚实”。卡梅伦透露自己曾给戈夫发短信:“你要么是一个合作伙伴,要么是傻瓜。”他还补充说:“他有一个突出的品质:不忠。过去对我不忠,后来对鲍里斯不忠。”尽管卡梅伦称约翰逊不赞同脱欧,但他却这样说戈夫:“迈克尔支持的也许是他相信的东西,但在这一过程中和朋友们决裂了,站在了和自己的政治身份完全相悖的立场上。”

mendacious[men'deɪʃəs]: adj. 虚假的;说谎的

He (partly) regrets the 2016 European referendum
对2016年举行的脱欧公投感到遗憾

Cameron has no regrets about calling the referendum, saying it was “necessary” and “inevitable”. But he says he is sorry about the divisions it has caused. He writes that he thinks about the consequences daily and worries “desperately” about what will happen. He claims he was disadvantaged in campaigning for Remain. Both Johnson and Gove “behaved appallingly”, attacking their own government, turning a blind eye to their side’s unpleasant actions. But, as prime minister, Cameron felt he could not hit back as hard, resulting in “asymmetric warfare”. The referendum turned into a Conservative party psychodrama, he writes, and he was “hugely depressed” about leaving his post as prime minister. “I deeply regret the outcome and accept that my approach failed. The decisions I took contributed to that failure. I failed.”

卡梅伦不后悔举行公投,表示这是“必要的”,也是“不可避免的”。但他说他对公投引发的分裂感到遗憾。他写道,他每天都会想到公投的后果,“绝望地”担忧即将发生的事情。他表示,作为留欧派自己处于不利地位。约翰逊和戈夫“行为都很可怕”,攻击自己的政府,无视己方的不当行为。但是作为首相,卡梅伦觉得自己不能给予同样有力的反击,从而造成了“不对称的战争”。卡梅伦写道,公投变成了保守党的心理剧,对于离开首相职位他感到“非常沮丧”。“我对结果感到非常遗憾,也接受了我的方法失败的事实。我做的决定也是导致失败的因素。我失败了。”

 

What he feels about his family
对家人的感情

Cameron describes his despair at the death of his first-born son Ivan, who died aged six in 2009, and had Ohtahara syndrome, suffering multiple seizures daily. “Nothing, absolutely nothing, can prepare you for the reality of losing your darling boy in this way. It was as if the world stopped turning,” he writes. Then leader of the opposition, he was due to attend prime minister’s questions in the commons on the day after Ivan’s death. But Gordon Brown, whose daughter Jennifer Jane died a few days after birth in 2002, adjourned the house for the day. Cameron writes that Brown’s “real warmth and humanity” meant a lot to both him and wife Samantha.

卡梅伦描述了自己对长子伊凡之死的绝望,2009年6岁的伊凡离世,他患有大田原综合征,每天癫痫发作多次。他写道:“没有任何东西能帮助你承受以这种方式失去心爱儿子的现实。似乎地球都停止转动了。”那时作为反对党的领袖,卡梅伦要在伊凡去世的第二天在下议院出席首相问答。戈登·布朗宣布那天的议会休会,他的女儿珍妮弗·简在2002年出生后几天夭折了。卡梅伦写道,布朗的“温暖和人性”对他和妻子萨曼莎而言都意义重大。

adjourn[ə'dʒɝn]: v. (会议或审判)暂停,休会

His proudest moment in office
担任首相期间最自豪的时刻

One of the proudest moments of his premiership, Cameron says, was the introduction of same-sex marriage, though he had worried and “wobbled” over the issue and faced heated opposition within the Conservative party: “Equal marriage was one of the most contentious, hard-fought and divisive issues during my time as prime minister.” One party member tore up his card in front of him. But, he acknowledges, he did regret abstaining from voting on an Iain Duncan Smith motion to block gay couples’ right to adopt children. “I should have proactively supported that right,” he wrote.

卡梅伦说,他担任首相期间最自豪的时刻,就是让同性恋婚姻合法化,尽管当时他对同性恋婚姻问题感到忧虑和“摇摆不定”,还面临保守党内部的激烈反对:“婚姻平等是我担任首相期间最有争议、斗争最艰难也是分歧最大的议案之一。”一位党内人士当着他的面撕毁了选票。不过,卡梅伦承认,他很后悔在给伊恩·邓肯·史密斯动议投票时弃权了,这一动议阻止同性恋夫妇领养孩子的权利。他写道:“我当时应该积极支持这一权利。”

wobble['wɑbl]: vi. 摇晃;摇摆;游移不定

abstain[əb'steɪn]: v. (投票时)弃权,放弃