It’s the Revolutionary War, Round 2.
While tens of millions settle in to watch England and the United States in their first match of the World Cup today, the leaders of the two testy allies will be butting heads over BP and the Gulf oil spill.
The White House said President Obama would ring new Prime Minister David Cameron in London this morning to discuss a range of issues — but Topic A is certain to be the environmental catastrophe in the Gulf, caused by an explosion at a rig owned by the British energy giant.
Three and a half hours after the Obama-Cameron call, at 2:30 p.m., the underdog American soccer squad takes on England in both teams’ opening World Cup game in South Africa.
RICH LOWRY: DON’T DO ‘ANGRY,’ O
PRESSURED, BP CEO MIGHT DEFER $10B DIVIDEND
The two teams have been bitter rivals in the past, but anger over the Gulf mess raises today’s game to a new level.
Filmmaker Spike Lee urged the US team members to wear T-shirts that read, “BP Sucks.”
The finger-pointing prompted a former British ambassador to Washington, Christopher Meyer, to say relations between the two countries are in “a bit of a crisis.”
Obama, under mounting pressure to get tough with BP, said this week that he would have fired the firm’s CEO, Tony Hayward, and that he wanted to find out “whose ass to kick.”
Fellow Democrats including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi demanded that BP suspend its rich stock-dividend payments until it pays for the Gulf cleanup — and Obama has raised questions about it, too.
The BBC reported yesterday that the United States won the first round and that BP’s board will announce it is shelving this quarter’s dividend payment after Obama confronts Hayward and board chairman Carl-Henric Svanberg at the White House next Wednesday.
But British newspapers have fired back, with screaming headlines accusing Obama of trying to steal Grandmum’s nest egg.
“Obama’s boot on the throat of British pensioners,” blared Thursday’s front page of The Daily Telegraph.
“Obama is killing all our pensions,” said The Daily Express.
About 25 percent of BP stock is owned by British pension funds. That means 18 million retirees across the pond face losing $140 each quarter a dividend payment is not made — even though the company has been profitable.
US officials have also warned of possible criminal charges against BP, as well as fines of up to $4,300 for every barrel of oil leaked into the Gulf.
With Post Wire Services