David Cameron visits Brazil

UK Prime Minister David Cameron was in Brazil for two days in an attempt to capitalise on the success of the Olympics as well as drum up some business in order to boost the UK’s flagging economy.

Accompanying him was a 58-strong trade delegation, who according to both the Financial Times and the Press Association, was ready to welcome the signing of deals worth £100 million for the United Kingdom.

Until now, Britain has neglected to take advantage of the opportunities for increased trade and business in Brazil, Cameron explained in an interview with Brazilian newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo. Recently however, there has been an increase in official visits keeping relations sweet between the two countries with both William Hague and Prince Harry travelling to Brazil.

Britain accounted for only 1.5 per cent of Brazil’s imports compared with 6.4 per cent for countries, such as Germany, he said.

Two areas that were significant for Cameron was oil, gas and defence. He was expected to visit Petrobras, the major Brazilian oil company on Thursday.

Cameron’s trip also included a visit to a favela, before meeting with Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff.

Whilst business was the main concern on the Prime Minister’s mind, it appeared as though some Brazilians were more interested in questioning him about Boris Johnson.

In the same interview, he faced the following question: “With the economy in crisis, we see Mayor of London Boris Johnson, also of your party, with greater popularity than you to the point that there are rumours that he may be the Conservative candidate for the next general election. Do you feel your post is threatened?”

Professional as ever the Prime Minister responded: “Not at all. Boris has been a great friend of mine for a long time and a first-class Mayor of London. We’re very lucky to have so many big hitters in our party, but Boris still has much to do as Mayor, and so do I as Prime Minister.”