BP clouds Cameron's US visit
Source: Agencies |
July 21, 2010, Wednesday
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ON the way to Washington, British Prime Minister David Cameron said he wants to talk about Afghanistan, Middle East peace prospects and the global economy.
Everyone else wants to talk about BP.
Cameron's first trip to Washington as prime minister began yesterday and was being overshadowed by anger in the United States over BP's spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and the British oil giant's alleged involvement in the decision to free Lockerbie bomber Abdel Baset al-Megrahi from jail last year and send him home to Libya.
Cameron arrived at the White House in the late morning for his one-on-one meeting with President Barack Obama. The prime minister was then to have a working lunch with Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, whom he met earlier for breakfast at the British Embassy.
Obama and Cameron were to take questions from reporters later.
Cameron had hoped to use his first official visit to the White House to build his standing as a statesman and develop his ties with Obama. Instead, he is being forced to focus on the British government's decision last August to return the cancer-stricken prisoner to Libya on compassionate grounds.
"As leader of opposition, I couldn't have been more clear that I thought the decision to release al-Megrahi was completely and utterly wrong," Cameron told the BBC.
In yesterday's meeting, Cameron and Obama were to discuss a host of pressing issues. Chief among them will be Afghanistan. Britain has been the most crucial US military partner in Afghanistan but is facing inevitable budget cuts and the unpopularity of the war. Cameron has said he wants the country's 10,000 troops out by the time of Britain's next election, which must be held by 2015.
The leaders also are likely to discuss stalled Middle East peace prospects and the global economy. But while both sides are playing down the BP issue, they are acknowledging it will come up.
Cameron will meet in the evening with US lawmakers who have urged an inquiry into BP's lobbying of the British government over al-Megrahi's release. Cameron's Downing Street office said a British government-commissioned inquiry was "not currently under consideration."
The decision to free al-Megrahi was made by Scotland's government, which holds limited powers within the United Kingdom, and not by the previous British government headed by prime minister Gordon Brown.
Al-Megrahi served eight years of a life sentence for the December 21, 1988, bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, which killed all 259 people aboard, mostly Americans, and 11 people on the ground.
"I have no idea what BP did, I am not responsible for BP," Cameron said. But he insisted that discussions between BP and Brown's administration on a prisoner transfer agreement did not include talks involving the al-Megrahi question.
Everyone else wants to talk about BP.
Cameron's first trip to Washington as prime minister began yesterday and was being overshadowed by anger in the United States over BP's spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and the British oil giant's alleged involvement in the decision to free Lockerbie bomber Abdel Baset al-Megrahi from jail last year and send him home to Libya.
Cameron arrived at the White House in the late morning for his one-on-one meeting with President Barack Obama. The prime minister was then to have a working lunch with Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, whom he met earlier for breakfast at the British Embassy.
Obama and Cameron were to take questions from reporters later.
Cameron had hoped to use his first official visit to the White House to build his standing as a statesman and develop his ties with Obama. Instead, he is being forced to focus on the British government's decision last August to return the cancer-stricken prisoner to Libya on compassionate grounds.
"As leader of opposition, I couldn't have been more clear that I thought the decision to release al-Megrahi was completely and utterly wrong," Cameron told the BBC.
In yesterday's meeting, Cameron and Obama were to discuss a host of pressing issues. Chief among them will be Afghanistan. Britain has been the most crucial US military partner in Afghanistan but is facing inevitable budget cuts and the unpopularity of the war. Cameron has said he wants the country's 10,000 troops out by the time of Britain's next election, which must be held by 2015.
The leaders also are likely to discuss stalled Middle East peace prospects and the global economy. But while both sides are playing down the BP issue, they are acknowledging it will come up.
Cameron will meet in the evening with US lawmakers who have urged an inquiry into BP's lobbying of the British government over al-Megrahi's release. Cameron's Downing Street office said a British government-commissioned inquiry was "not currently under consideration."
The decision to free al-Megrahi was made by Scotland's government, which holds limited powers within the United Kingdom, and not by the previous British government headed by prime minister Gordon Brown.
Al-Megrahi served eight years of a life sentence for the December 21, 1988, bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, which killed all 259 people aboard, mostly Americans, and 11 people on the ground.
"I have no idea what BP did, I am not responsible for BP," Cameron said. But he insisted that discussions between BP and Brown's administration on a prisoner transfer agreement did not include talks involving the al-Megrahi question.
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