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Barack Obama and David Cameron play a round of golf on the final leg of the US President's three-day trip

The leaders played on the Chandler's Cross course in Herfordshire after visiting The Globe theatre in London

Caroline Mortimer
Saturday 23 April 2016 19:56 BST
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David Cameron and Barack Obama (l-r) squeezed in a round of golf during the US President's three-day visit
David Cameron and Barack Obama (l-r) squeezed in a round of golf during the US President's three-day visit (Getty Images)

President Barack Obama found the time to squeeze in a couple rounds of golf with Prime Minister David Cameron during his latest visit to the UK.

The pair were photographed at the famous 300-acre Chandler’s Cross course in Hertfordshire after visiting The Globe Theatre in London in honour of William Shakespeare’s 400th birthday.

At one point the President shouted that he was “robbed” after missing a putt at the third hole and appeared to be in a good mood as he addressed the press who are not usually allowed to watch him play in the US.

The two leaders will have dinner together later on Saturday at the US ambassador’s residence as the last part of a three-day trip where Mr Obama has campaigned for Britain to remain a member of the EU.

His comments provoked outrage among Brexit campaigners on Friday when he suggested that Britain would “go to the back of the queue” when it came to trade negotiations if it left the economic bloc.

Mr Obama said: “My understanding is that some of the folks on the other side have been ascribing to the United States certain actions we’ll take if the UK does leave the EU.

“They say for example, we’ll just cut our own trade deals with the United States.

Mr Cameron reacts as Mr Obama misses the hole (Getty Images)

“They’re voicing opinion about what the United States are going to do. I figured you might want to hear it from the President of the United States.

“I think it’s fair to say that maybe at some point down the line there might be a UK-US trade agreement – it’s not going to happen any time soon because our focus is on is in negotiating with a big bloc, the European Union, to get a trade agreement done.

“The UK is going to be in the back of the queue.”

He believes the UK’s role on the world stage would be greatly diminished by leaving the union and “it leverages UK power to be part of the European Union. I don't believe the EU moderates British influence in the world, it magnifies it."

He dismissed controversial comments by London Mayor Boris Johnson that he did not like Britain as he had an “ancestral dislike” of its former empire because he is “part-Kenyan”.

Mr Johnson said the fact that Mr Obama had removed a bust of Winston Churchill from the Oval Office on becoming president demonstrated this.

But Mr Obama said the Churchill bust was now outside his private office and he walked past it every day.

He added: "I thought it was appropriate - and I think most people in the United Kingdom might agree - that as the first African American president, it might be appropriate to have a bust of Dr Martin Luther King in my office to remind me of all the hard work of a lot of people who had somehow allowed me to have the privilege of holding this office".

Additional reporting by Reuters

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