LONDON — These days, the British have a new message for President Barack Obama: Back off.
As the Obama administration has joined the chorus of U.S. politicians lambasting BP over the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, a plume of anger is rising across the Atlantic at what many see as an unfair castigation of a British icon.
U.S. officials have demanded that BP suspend dividend payments, and Obama has said he would have fired chief executive Tony Hayward if Hayward worked for him.
While acknowledging the enormity of the ecological disaster, British critics say the administration has gone overboard in its criticism and is endangering the savings of millions of British and American shareholders who have watched BP’s plunge in the stock market.
BP’s stock has lost close to half its value since the spill occurred, though it was up by $1.19 to $33.97 on Friday.
Los Angeles Times
