EU referendum: David Cameron questions Penny Mordaunt's judgment over Turkey veto claim

Mr Cameron said Mordaunt, the Armed Forces minister, was 'absolutely wrong' to say the UK does not have a veto on whether Turkey is allowed to accede to the bloc

David Cameron has hit back at one of his own ministers over her claim Britain would have “no say” over whether Turkey joined the EU.

The Prime Minister said such a move would happen “in about the year 3000”, rejecting a new warning from the Vote Leave campaign that “Turkey (population 76 million) is joining the EU”.

And Mr Cameron said Penny Mordaunt, the Armed Forces minister, was “absolutely wrong” to say the UK does not have a veto on whether Turkey is allowed to accede to the bloc.

David Cameron speaks on ITV's Peston on Sunday programme (ITV/Peston on Sunday) (ITV)

Ms Mordaunt has been accused of “flat out lying” after she told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show that Turkey is set to join the EU in the next eight years and the UK will be unable to block the move.

Speaking to ITV’s Peston on Sunday a short while later, Mr Cameron said: “Let me be clear, Britain and every other country in the European Union has a veto on another country joining.

“That is a fact, and the fact that the Leave campaign are getting things as straightforward as this wrong should call in to question their whole judgment in making the bigger argument about leaving the EU.”

Robert Peston questioned whether a minister who had gone something so wrong, and whose judgment he had called into question, should remain in Mr Cameron’s government.

The Prime Minister said: “Her responsibilities are in the Ministry of Defence, she is doing a very good job. But on this question of whether of not we have a veto, the Leave campaign are wrong.”

Mr Cameron added: “It is not remotely on the cards that Turkey is going to join the EU any time soon. They applied in 1987. At the current rate of progress they will probably get round to joining in about the year 3000 according to the latest forecasts.”