British right-wing political leader Lord Christopher Monckton, Viscount of Brenchley, accused President Barack Obama of being hostile toward Great Britain.
Photo: Joanne Nova
Christopher Monckton, 3rd Viscount Monckton of Brenchley
“I do think there are one or two indications that President Obama is not very friendly disposed towards the United Kingdom,” Monckton told CNBC Monday.
Monckton, the deputy leader of the U.K.'s Independence Party—which describes itself on its Web site as a "Libertarian, non-racist party seeking Britain's withdrawal from the European Union"— cited the removal of the bust of Winston Churchill from the White House as an example of Obama’s prejudice against England.
A bust of Abraham Lincoln now sits in place of Churchill’s in the Oval Office.
Monckton, who served as an advisor to former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's policy unit in the 1980s, indicated Obama's treatment of BP in the wake of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill as further evidence of supposed anti-British beliefs.
“There does seem to be a sort of deliberate hostility in the way President Obama went around referring to it as ‘British Petroleum’ all the time and almost using the disaster as a way of hitting back at the Brits,” Monckton said, adding, “That I think has played very badly on this side of the water.”
BP changed its name from British Petroleum more than 10 years ago.
“I think his attacks on the United Kingdom are unfortunate because we would like to maintain a strong special relationship with the United States,” Monckton said.
Monckton has been controversial in some of his policy statements and writings. He once wrote an article stating that everyone should be tested for the AIDs virus and those found to have it should be quarantined.
Monckton's also called for the shut down of "90 percent of all English government services."