WillowTree
Diamond Member
- Sep 15, 2008
- 84,532
- 16,091
- 2,180
Nick Clegg today warned that a row between Britain and the US over the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico was in danger of turning into a destructive bout of "megaphone diplomacy".
"I don't frankly think we are going to reach a solution to stop the release of oil into the ocean any quicker by allowing this to spiral into a tit-for-tat political and diplomatic spat," said Clegg, speaking in the Spanish capital, Madrid.
The deputy prime minister, responding to a question on Barack Obama's increasingly strident criticism of the British oil company, added: "I am not going to start intervening in a debate which clearly risks descending into megaphone diplomacy."
Anger at Obama singling out BP for criticism rather than US contractors such as Halliburton is mounting in the City.
There is also concern that the prime minister, David Cameron, has not defended the British firm more robustly. Cameron is to discuss the oil spill in a telephone conversation with the US president tomorrow.
London's Conservative mayor, Boris Johnson, has accused the US of indulging in "anti-British rhetoric" and told the BBC that huge numbers of British pensioners, whose retirement funds are invested in BP, were losing money because of the continued attacks on the company.
BP oil spill: Nick Clegg pledges to avoid 'megaphone diplomacy' with US | Environment | guardian.co.uk
"I don't frankly think we are going to reach a solution to stop the release of oil into the ocean any quicker by allowing this to spiral into a tit-for-tat political and diplomatic spat," said Clegg, speaking in the Spanish capital, Madrid.
The deputy prime minister, responding to a question on Barack Obama's increasingly strident criticism of the British oil company, added: "I am not going to start intervening in a debate which clearly risks descending into megaphone diplomacy."
Anger at Obama singling out BP for criticism rather than US contractors such as Halliburton is mounting in the City.
There is also concern that the prime minister, David Cameron, has not defended the British firm more robustly. Cameron is to discuss the oil spill in a telephone conversation with the US president tomorrow.
London's Conservative mayor, Boris Johnson, has accused the US of indulging in "anti-British rhetoric" and told the BBC that huge numbers of British pensioners, whose retirement funds are invested in BP, were losing money because of the continued attacks on the company.
BP oil spill: Nick Clegg pledges to avoid 'megaphone diplomacy' with US | Environment | guardian.co.uk
