Obama hails "indispensable" tie with UK Barack Obama on Wednesday held talks with David Cameron, UK prime minister, on Afghanistan, Syria and Iran, after presiding over a lavish White House ceremony to mark the "indispensable" US-UK partnership. Mr Obama said the two countries "stand together, work together, bleed together" to make the world better and safer, at a South Lawn ceremony attended by thousands of local residents and expats. Mr Cameron stressed the investment flows between the two countries, which he said dwarfed those between the UK and US and China. The British premier joked that the military guard of honour made the White House "better defended" than it was 200 years ago when a British raiding party burned it to the ground. The official visit and state dinner - the only such events planned by Mr Obama this year - marked what both leaders claimed was a high point in the transatlantic relationship. The welcome ceremony, bathed in unseasonably warm spring sunshine, was a mutually advantageous reaffirmation of the "special relationship." For Mr Obama it was a useful reminder in election year that he has strong allies with democratic credentials; for British leaders, such events are a sprinkling of political gold dust.