Boris Johnson's pro-EU column published for first time

FILE - In this Friday, June 24, 2016 file photo, Vote Leave campaigner Boris Johnson arrives for a press conference at Vote Leave headquarters in London . In the crucial days before Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson embraced Britain’s “leave campaign,” he wrote a newspaper column explaining why Britain should remain inside the European Union _ but those forceful words were never published before Britain’s June 23 vote. The Sunday Times has now published Johnson’s pro-EU column, which outlines his fears about leaving the EU on SUnday, Oct. 16, 2016. (Mary Turner/Pool via AP, File) (The Associated Press)

LONDON – Before Boris Johnson embraced Britain's "leave" campaign and then became the country's foreign minister, he wrote an unpublished newspaper column arguing the case for keeping the U.K. inside the European Union.

The Sunday Times published Johnson's pro-EU column, which outlines his fears about the economic shock that leaving the EU would cause and the value of keeping access to the EU's single market of 500 million people.

Johnson writes "the membership fee seems rather small for all that access."

The column was written days before Johnson made up his mind to join the "leave" campaign and argue that Britain should withdraw from the 28-nation bloc. Britons decided to do just that in a June 23 vote.

Now Johnson's a key figure in the Conservative government taking Britain out of the EU.