BP oil spill cast dark pall over Obama-Cameron meeting (1st Lead)

Jun 26, 2010, 21:24 GMT

Toronto - US President Barack Obama and new British Prime Minister David Cameron held their first bilateral meeting Saturday in Canada, overshadowed by tensions over BP Plc's ongoing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

The leaders flew together by helicopter from the secluded resort of Huntsville, Ontario, site of the Group of Eight (G8) summit of industrial powers, to Toronto about 220 kilometres south, where the larger Group of 20 (G20) bloc was to meet for the rest of the weekend.

Obama, feeling the heat from an angry US public, has promised to put pressure on BP to meet clean-up costs for the biggest oil spill in US history. British officials fear their iconic company is being driven to the brink of collapse.

'We don't want to see the destruction of the company that is important for all our interests,' Cameron told Canadian broadcaster CBC ahead of the meeting, noting that BP employs thousands of workers in the US and Britain.

Cameron described the oil spill as 'heartbreaking' for residents of the US Gulf Coast, but noted that BP was 'a very vital company for all of our interests.'

Cameron took office last month, leading a coalition of his Conservative Party with the Liberal Democrats.