LONDON -- From the prime minister to sports and pop stars David and Victoria Beckham, supporters of the United Kingdom staying in the European Union urged voters on Tuesday to think about future generations before they cast ballots in Thursday's referendum.
At 10 Downing St., Prime Minister David Cameron appealed directly to EU-wary older voters, saying that leaving the bloc would risk the country's economic security and that younger generations would have to live with the consequences of a so-called Brexit.
"I want to speak very directly to those of my generation and older," Cameron said. "Do think about the hopes and dreams of your children and grandchildren. They can't undo the decision we take. If we vote out, that's it. It's irreversible. We will leave Europe for good. And the next generation will have to live with the consequences."
Steve Hilton, a former Cameron adviser who now backs a "Leave" vote, said Cameron had been "wheeled out by rather panicky spin doctors" to appeal for votes.
Cameron tried to assure older voters that the U.K. remains a great country -- even if it is part of a 28-nation bloc -- and that being in the EU allows the country to promote the values it holds dear.
"Brits don't quit," he said. "We get involved, we take a lead. We make a difference. We get things done."
Cameron acknowledged that many Britons didn't vote for him and don't like him.
"Not everyone has been happy with what I have done," he said. "But of this I am convinced. ... Britain is better off inside the EU than out on our own."
Royal biographer Robert Lacey reported that Queen Elizabeth II has recently been asking dinner companions for "three good reasons why Britain should be part of Europe." Lacey, writing in a blog on the Daily Beast website, said the queen's sympathies may "on occasions, like those of many of her subjects, have veered towards Brexit."
Asked about the report, Buckingham Palace said in an emailed statement: "The Queen is above politics and acts on the advice of Her Government in political matters. The referendum is a matter for the British people to decide."
The "Stay" camp also got a boost from pop culture figures when retired soccer star David Beckham and his wife, Victoria Beckham, added their voices to the EU cause.
"For our children and their children, we should be facing the problems of the world together and not alone," he said.
Former Spice Girl Victoria Beckham later registered her view by posting the symbol of the "Stronger In" campaign on her Instagram page.
Both sides in the referendum were trying to keep things positive, wary that negative campaigning would turn off voters.
But former London Mayor Boris Johnson expressed disapproval of a poster showing a column of nonwhite migrants massed at a European border alongside the words "Breaking point."
Johnson, who supports the "Leave" side, distanced himself from U.K. Independence Party leader Nigel Farage, who has been credited for the poster.
The U.K.'s anti-EU campaigners have long been divided, but the disputes appear to be intensifying as Thursday's referendum draws near. Johnson's Vote Leave won Electoral Commission approval to be the official standard bearer of the campaign, but Farage has fought on nonetheless.
Johnson told LBC radio that the poster had "xenophobic undertones" and insisted the official Vote Leave campaign had nothing to do with it.
"It seemed to be saying that these were bad people coming to our country. That seemed to be the message. I felt profoundly unhappy with it," he said.
The British pound and global stock markets have surged on momentum from campaigners fighting for the United Kingdom to leave the EU. The pound rose to its highest point since early January in trading Tuesday, hitting $1.47.
Billionaire currency trader George Soros added support to the "Stay" case on Tuesday, warning that a vote for the U.K. to leave the EU will trigger a drop in the pound's value -- without benefits that can come with a devalued currency.
In an op-ed piece in The Guardian, Soros said a decision to leave the EU in Thursday's vote would cause the sterling to drop quickly. Soros predicted the drop would be more dramatic than when the U.K. crashed out of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism in September 1992.
Soros made $1 billion betting on that year's devaluation -- at the expense of the Bank of England and the British government -- when the pound lost 15 percent of its value.
He said it is reasonable to assume that with an EU exit, the pound would fall by at least 15 percent or possibly more than 20 percent from its present level, to below $1.15. The pre-referendum trading range was $1.50 to $1.60.
"If sterling fell to this level, then ironically one pound would be worth about one euro -- a method of 'joining the euro' that nobody in Britain would want," Soros wrote.
Pro-exit Justice Secretary Michael Gove ridiculed the billionaire investor's comments. "If economic forecasters were as reliable as doctors or airline pilots, then everyone would be a billionaire," Gove told BBC Radio. "The truth is that economic forecasters like George Soros have got things wrong in the past."
The referendum is being monitored by governments around the world. Spain's acting Economy Minister Luis de Guindos, campaigning ahead of his country's general election Sunday, said the vote has opened "a Pandora's box of populism."
In Washington, Federal Reserve Chairman Janet Yellen said a British exit could roil currency markets and hurt the U.S. economy, while European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said the bank might act to contain the fallout. The European bank is prepared to stabilize markets, provide liquidity and deploy existing swap lines with other central banks, Draghi said at a European Parliament hearing in Brussels.
Information for this article was contributed by Danica Kirka and Jill Lawless of The Associated Press and by Robert Hutton, Alex Morales, Svenja O'Donnell, Thomas Penny and John Follain of Bloomberg News.
A Section on 06/22/2016