Washington, March 14 (IANS) US President Barack Obama Tuesday took British Prime Minister David Cameron on board his Air Force One presidential jet for a college basketball game in Dayton, Ohio — part of carefully choreographed efforts to showcase the “personal bond” between the two leaders.
Reporters noticed an excited Cameron when he was waiting to board the Marine One presidential helicopter near the White House to depart for the Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland state, where he and Obama took the Air Force One for Dayton for the finals of the college basketball season in Ohio, a key swing state in the presidential election in November.
The White House said the trip aims to show the prime minister “a slice of American life”.
Cameron is the first foreign leader ever to travel with Obama on his presidential jet, Xinhua reported Wednesday.
The warmth of the welcome has surprised some British officials as Obama was thought to favour closer ties with Asian nations rather than traditional allies in Europe, The Telegraph daily said.
The White House insisted on a strong working relationship as well as “a strong personal bond” between Obama and Cameron, saying their extensive meetings Wednesday will cover the “special and essential relationships” between the two countries, in addition to an array of hot-button issues such as Afghanistan, Iran and Syria.
The two leaders hailed the US-British alliance as “a partnership of the heart, bound by the history, traditions and values we share”.
“But what makes our relationship special — a unique and essential asset — is that we join hands across so many endeavours,” they wrote in a joint article in Tuesday’s Washington Post.
