Last time it was a barbeque, this time it was a basketball game. Above is footage of David Cameron and Barack Obama at an NCAA men’s tournament game in Ohio last night. One feels slightly for Cameron as Obama is glad-handed by fans who barely register the PM’s presence. Unlike Thatcher and Blair, Cameron is yet to win a following across the pond.
The pair were interviewed by CBS at halftime and offered their thoughts on the game. Cameron remarked: “I’m enjoying it. It’s fast, it’s pretty fast and furious. It’s hard to follow sometimes exactly who’s done what wrong. [Obama] is giving me some tips. He’s going to help me fill out my bracket.” To which Obama replied: “And he’s going to teach me cricket. Because I don’t understand what’s going on with that cricket thing.”
Unsurprisingly, Afghanistan will be top of the agenda at today’s Oval Office meeting, where the pair will be joined by William Hague, George Osborne, and their US counterparts, Hillary Clinton and Tim Geithner. [One wonders why Osborne is attending when budgetary matters will be little discussed. Unless, as I suggested yesterday, he is hoping to solicit some economic advice from the US government].
All of which means that its deputy Clegg, who may be understandably miffed at his exclusion from the trip, running the show back in Westminster. After the week he’s had, today’s PMQs should be fun.