Romney meets with British leaders in London

LONDON – U.S. presidential candidate Mitt Romney met with British Prime Minister David Cameron in London Thursday as the presumptive Republican nominee began a three-nation international tour.

The London 2012 Olympics will show the world “beyond doubt that Britain can deliver”, the prime minister has said.

“Look at what we’re capable of… even at a difficult economic time,” he said, after US presidential candidate Mitt Romney raised doubts about the Games.

At the Olympic Park, in east London, David Cameron said: “This is a great moment for us. Let’s seize it.”
 
Romney arrived in the British capital Wednesday and will attend Friday’s opening ceremonies for the Olympics. He then travels to Israel and Poland in a bid to boost his foreign policy credentials.
As Thursday began, former Prime Minister Tony Blair hosted Romney at his private office few blocks off Hyde Park. The former Labour Party prime minister now serves as a special envoy to the Middle East, and the Romney campaign said the two men discussed the Middle East peace process, the situation in Syria, Iran and the wider region. They also discussed economic issues facing both countries, and chatted about the upcoming Olympic competitions.

Romney then met with Ed Miliband, the current leader of the Labour Party _ the opposition to Cameron’s Conservative Party.
 
Romney then moved on to a meeting with Foreign Secretary William Hague. The candidate was also slated to meet with Nick Clegg, the deputy prime minister, and Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne, Britain’s top financial official.
 
Public opinion polls show that Americans consider foreign policy a strength from President Barack Obama, while the businessman and one-term governor Mitt Romney gets higher ratings on how he would handle the economy.
President Obama embarked on his own European trip while he was the Democratic nominee in the 2008 election.

Romney’s campaign had promised he would avoid criticizing the president abroad.

However, the British Daily Telegraph quoted an unidentified Romney adviser as saying Mr. Obama did not fully appreciate the shared