MichelleHeart
06-10-2010, 05:07 PM
Article here (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/oilandgas/7819653/Gulf-of-Mexico-oil-spill-David-Cameron-fails-to-back-BP-in-fight-with-Barack-Obama.html). An excerpt:
In the first test of the “special relationship” since the Coalition took power, the Prime Minister is under growing pressure to try to stop Barack Obama’s fierce criticism of the company.
The US president’s “aggressive” rhetoric, including a White House threat to hold a “boot to the throat” of BP, has been blamed for wiping billions of pounds off its value.
But when asked about the impact on the pensions of millions of people, Mr Cameron backed the president, saying he understood his “frustration”.
Despite calls for the Prime Minister to support BP and warnings about the threat to the national economic interest, he made no public attempt to defend the firm’s position.
BP’s share price has almost halved in the wake of American criticism, wiping nearly £50billion off its value, with damaging consequences for British pension funds.
The company is responsible for almost one in every seven pounds of dividends paid to British pension pots.
BP shares fell by more than five per cent on the London stock market yesterday as US politicians demanded that the company scrap plans to pay a dividend. The US attorney general refused to rule out taking an injunction to stop BP giving shareholders £10billion next month.
Boris Johnson, the London mayor, became the most high-profile figure to demand a halt to the “beating up” of one of Britain’s biggest firms following a “catastrophic accident”.
He said that “anti-British rhetoric” levelled at the company was a matter of “national concern” and that the oil firm was paying “a very, very heavy price” for what had been an accident. “I would like to see a bit of cool heads rather than endlessly buck-passing and name-calling,” he said.
“When you consider the huge exposure of British pension funds to BP, it starts to become a matter of national concern if a great British company is being continually beaten up on the airwaves.”
Sir Christopher Meyer, the former British ambassador to Washington, called for Downing Street to intervene with the White House.
“The Government must put down a marker with the US administration that the survival and long term prosperity of BP is a vital British interest,” he said.
JP Morgan, the American investment bank, issued a report calling on Britain to raise a “diplomatic red flag” on BP’s behalf.
The Institute of Directors said that aggressive US political rhetoric was “inappropriate” and John Napier, the head of the insurers RSA, wrote an open letter to Mr Obama saying he appeared “prejudicial and personal” in his approach.
In Parliament, senior Labour MPs also intervened. Tom Watson, the former Cabinet Office minister, said: “This is now a serious crisis facing millions of pensioners in the UK and we need to say to our US allies that yes, it was a British company that made this mistake but if they were subject to a regulatory regime, they wouldn’t have been able to do that.
“The world’s insatiable appetite for oil was the cause of this – not British pensioners.” Amid the growing backlash over Mr Cameron’s failure to intervene, the Government issued a statement last night disclosing that George Osborne, the Chancellor, had spoken to Tony Hayward, BP’s chief executive.
In the first test of the “special relationship” since the Coalition took power, the Prime Minister is under growing pressure to try to stop Barack Obama’s fierce criticism of the company.
The US president’s “aggressive” rhetoric, including a White House threat to hold a “boot to the throat” of BP, has been blamed for wiping billions of pounds off its value.
But when asked about the impact on the pensions of millions of people, Mr Cameron backed the president, saying he understood his “frustration”.
Despite calls for the Prime Minister to support BP and warnings about the threat to the national economic interest, he made no public attempt to defend the firm’s position.
BP’s share price has almost halved in the wake of American criticism, wiping nearly £50billion off its value, with damaging consequences for British pension funds.
The company is responsible for almost one in every seven pounds of dividends paid to British pension pots.
BP shares fell by more than five per cent on the London stock market yesterday as US politicians demanded that the company scrap plans to pay a dividend. The US attorney general refused to rule out taking an injunction to stop BP giving shareholders £10billion next month.
Boris Johnson, the London mayor, became the most high-profile figure to demand a halt to the “beating up” of one of Britain’s biggest firms following a “catastrophic accident”.
He said that “anti-British rhetoric” levelled at the company was a matter of “national concern” and that the oil firm was paying “a very, very heavy price” for what had been an accident. “I would like to see a bit of cool heads rather than endlessly buck-passing and name-calling,” he said.
“When you consider the huge exposure of British pension funds to BP, it starts to become a matter of national concern if a great British company is being continually beaten up on the airwaves.”
Sir Christopher Meyer, the former British ambassador to Washington, called for Downing Street to intervene with the White House.
“The Government must put down a marker with the US administration that the survival and long term prosperity of BP is a vital British interest,” he said.
JP Morgan, the American investment bank, issued a report calling on Britain to raise a “diplomatic red flag” on BP’s behalf.
The Institute of Directors said that aggressive US political rhetoric was “inappropriate” and John Napier, the head of the insurers RSA, wrote an open letter to Mr Obama saying he appeared “prejudicial and personal” in his approach.
In Parliament, senior Labour MPs also intervened. Tom Watson, the former Cabinet Office minister, said: “This is now a serious crisis facing millions of pensioners in the UK and we need to say to our US allies that yes, it was a British company that made this mistake but if they were subject to a regulatory regime, they wouldn’t have been able to do that.
“The world’s insatiable appetite for oil was the cause of this – not British pensioners.” Amid the growing backlash over Mr Cameron’s failure to intervene, the Government issued a statement last night disclosing that George Osborne, the Chancellor, had spoken to Tony Hayward, BP’s chief executive.