General Election 2015: US President lavishes praise on Cameron,UK election 2015 updates, United Kingdom General Election updates, UK political News 2014 2015
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- Last Updated: Thursday, 22 January 2015 21:30
UK General Election 2015: US President lavishes praise on Cameron
David Cameron's trip to Washington was worth the jetlag. He got exactly what he wanted from meeting President Obama at the White House – a resounding clap on the back from the leader of the free world (the sort of leader-to-leader moment Ed Miliband can only dream of) and the photos to prove it.
It wasn't quite George and Amal Clooney on the Golden Globes red carpet, but it wasn't bad.
Joking about journalists getting into a "tizzy" over Cameron's recent admission that the he'd taken to addressing the British PM as "Bro", Obama told a White House press conference today: "Put simply, David is a great friend. He is one of my closest and most trusted partners in the world."
It gets better (if you're on the Tory election team)… "On many of the most pressing challenges that we face," Obama continued, "we see the world the same way. Great Britain is our indispensable partner, and David has been personally an outstanding partner - and I thank you for your friendship."
The Daily Telegraph reports that the "warm words will delight Conservative strategists". As The Mole wrote earlier this week, the trip to Washington was "the sort of top-drawer PR opportunity only a serving Prime Minister can arrange. And given that Cameron needs to do everything he can to reinforce the lead he has over Ed Miliband in leadership polls - when his party is behind in voting intention polls - the timing is impeccable."
The White House meeting wasn't all about back-slapping: the pair also got some work done, announcing a new joint approach to countering violent extremism in the wake of the Charlie Hebdo massacre in Paris.
"Britain and America both face threats to our national security from people who hate what our countries stand for and are determined to do us harm," Cameron told the world's press – once the photos were in the bag.
"In recent weeks, we have seen appalling attacks in Paris, in Peshawar, in Nigeria. The world is sickened by this terrorism.
"So we will not be standing alone in this fight. We know what we are up against. And we know how we will win.
"We face a poisonous and fanatical ideology that wants to pervert one of the world's major religions - Islam - and create conflict, terror and death. With our allies we will confront it wherever it appears.
"But, most important of all, we must also fight this poisonous ideology, starting at home."
The two world leaders added that no new sanctions should be placed on Iran over its nuclear program at the moment, as allies negotiate with the rogue state.
"On Iran, we remain absolutely committed to ensuring that Iran cannot develop a nuclear weapon," Mr Cameron said.
"The best way to achieve that now is to create the space for negotiations to succeed. We should not impose further sanctions now."
However, the United States and Britain have agreed to maintain tough sanctions on Russia over its actions in Ukraine.
"We agree on the need to maintain strong sanctions against Russia until it ends its aggression in Ukraine and on the need to support Ukraine as it implements important economic and democratic reforms," said Mr Obama.
Russia is sliding toward recession, with the ruble slumping by 40 percent this year, mostly due to crude oil prices falling by half in the past six months
src:telegraph.co.uk,theweek.co.uk