Gulf oil spill latest: Cameron and Obama hold BP peace talks
David Cameron and Barack Obama discuss BP oil crisis over phonecall
Saturday, 12, Jun 2010 10:55
By Matthew Champion.
David Cameron and Barack Obama have spoken on the phone to defuse tensions over BP's handling of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
The US president has responded to criticism back home and taken a tougher line with BP in recent days, with fears over the oil giant's divided seeing its shares plummet in London.
Mr Cameron has also come under pressure from senior business and political figures in the UK, with mayor of London Boris Johnson calling on the prime minister to defend BP amid allegations of anti-British sentiment from the White House.
The two men's phonecall at 16:00 BST today was aimed at avoiding the environmental disaster from spilling into a diplomatic row.
In a statement Downing St said the leaders had "agreed that BP should continue - as they have pledged - to work intensively to ensure that all sensible and reasonable steps are taken as rapidly as practicable to deal with the consequences of this catastrophe".
It added: "The prime minister stressed the economic importance of BP to the UK, US and other countries. The president made clear that he had no interest in undermining BP's value.
"The president and prime minister reaffirmed their confidence in the unique strength of the US-UK relationship."
A statement from the White House said: "The president and the prime minister discussed the impact of the tragic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, reiterating that BP must do all it can to respond effectively to the situation."
Yesterday Mr Cameron spoke with BP chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg via phone as he returned from Afghanistan. Mr Svanberg also met with chancellor George Osborne in Downing St. He told ITN after leaving the meeting BP had done "everything we can" to fill the well.
President Obama is due to make his fourth trip to the Gulf to assess the response to the oil spill later on Saturday, ahead of talks at the White House with Mr Svanberg on Wednesday.
On Friday experts doubled estimates of the amount of oil gushing into the Gulf to 40,000 barrels per day. BP has made several unsuccessful attempts to halt the spill since an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil ring in April that killed 11.
Shares in the oil giant closed up 7.2 per cent on Friday, largely recovering the losses of Thursday.