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Barack Obama listens as David Cameron speaks during a joint press conference at Lancaster House. Photograph: Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images

There were no big policy announcements, But, nevertheless, it was still packed with interesting stuff. Andrew Sparrow with the main points

• Obama said that winning the war in Libya would be a “slow, steady process”. He said that he and Cameron continued to discuss on a regular basis what could be done to put more pressure on the Libyan regime. But he played down hopes of an early breakthrough. “I think that there may be a false perception that there are a whole bunch of secret super-effective air assets that are in a warehouse somewhere that could just be pulled out and would somehow immediately solve the situation in Libya,” he said. “That’s not the case.” People had to be patient, he said.

We are bringing to bear an array of air power that has made a huge difference but ultimately this is going to be a slow, steady process in which we’re able to wear down the regime forces and change the political calculations of the Gaddafi regime to the point where they finally realise that they’re not going to control this country, the Libyan people are going to control this country

Obama said that the need to avoid civilian casualties meant that the operation might take longer than would otherwise be the case. But he said he was confident that Gaddafi would eventually go. “I believe that we have built enough momentum that, as long as we sustain the course that we’re one, that he is ultimately going to step down.” Cameron said that he and Obama had agreed that they should be “turning up the heat in Libya”

• Obama declined to give a specific endorsement for Cameron’s deficit reduction strategy. He said that the two leaders agreed on the need for deficit reduction, but he did not say anything that could be read as clear backing for the coalition’s approach and a clear rejection of Labour’s. In his opening statement Cameron said that although he and Obama didn’t go into politics to cut spending, “neither did we seek office to see our great economies decline, or to land our children with unsustainable debts”. Cameron went on: “That’s why by the second half of this decade, we’re making sure that debt ratios will be falling on both sides of the Atlantic.”

But when Obama was asked if he supported Cameron’s debt reduction approach, he said that each country was going to have to take different decisions. He said America and Britain had to sustain growth and that, although governments had to “live within their means”, they also had to sustain investment in areas like science and education. He said that he and Cameron wanted to arrive at the same point, where “we’re making sure that our governments are doing what they need to do to ensure broad-based prosperity, but doing so in a responsible way that does not mortgage our futures and leave a mountain of debt to future generations.”

He also stressed that the nature and role of the public sector was not the same in the UK as it was in the US, and that “the nature of the debt and the deficits are different, and as a consequence the sequencing and pace [of deficit reduction] may be different.”

• Obama stressed that it was important to be flexible in economic policy. He said governments had to be wiling to make adjustments. “There are going to be opportunities for us to make investments, there are going to be areas where we thought those were good ideas at the time, programmes that were started with the best of intentions and it turns out they were not working as well as they should,” he said. “If it’s not working well, we should get rid of it and put that money into programmes that are working well.”

Although Obama said that Cameron agreed on the importance of “making adjustments”, this was mildly embarrassing for Cameron because he has always insisted that his government has no “plan B” in relation to the economy.

• Obama said that the Americans would accept any decision by the British not to extradite the computer hacker Gary McKinnon to the US. The Americans want to put him on trial in the US for breaking into military computers, but his supporters in Britain say that he’s a harmless eccentric with Asperger’s syndrome (he was looking for evidence of UFOs when he hacked the Pentagon system) and that his health would be at risk in a US jail. Theresa May, the home secretary, is now considering whether new medical evidence justifies his extradition being blocked. Obama said the matter was now in the hands of the British legal system. “We have confidence in the British legal system coming to a just conclusion, so we await resolution and will be respectful of that process,” he said.

Cameron said that May was considering the matter in a quasi-judicial capacity. “I totally understand the anguish of [McKinnon’s] mother and his family about this issue,” Cameron added.

• Obama and Cameron both paid lavish tribute to the warmth of the relationship between the US and Britain. Using the formula the two men unveiled yesterday, they said that the relationship was not just “special”, but “essential” too. They were also keen to stress their personal regard for each other, referring to each other by first name rather than by title. Cameron also warmly praised the leadership Obama has shown in international circles. “I have come to value not just his leadership and courage, but the fact that to all the big international issues of our time, he brings thoughtful consideration and reason,” Cameron said.

Read in Full:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/blog/2011/may/25/obama-cameron-press-conference-main-points?INTCMP=SRCH

Previous Updates

“Clegg Washes hands of Hacker Case”:

https://www.aspie-editorial.com/2011/03/01/gary-mckinnon-updates-clegg-washes-hands-of-hacker-case/

“UK-US Extradition Treaty To Be Reviewed”:

https://www.aspie-editorial.com/2011/01/22/gary-mckinnon-updates-uk-us-extradition-treaty-to-be-reviewed/

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