Obama presses UK to keep to Nato commitment

Barack Obama has pressed David Cameron to maintain Britain's commitment to meeting the Nato target of spending 2% of GDP on defence.

Despite signs of concern from Washington about impending UK defence cuts, Cameron has steadfastly declined to commit to the 2% benchmark beyond March 2016, saying that any decision must await Chancellor George Osborne's Spending Review in the autumn.

Before meeting Obama for one-on-one talks at the G7 summit in Germany, the Prime Minister announced the deployment of a further 125 Army trainers to Iraq, to help the Baghdad authorities take on the Islamic State extremist group which has seized large swathes of the country as well as parts of neighbouring Syria.

But the announcement was overshadowed by the US President's concern over defence cuts, as well as his comment that America was "looking forward" to Britain remaining in the European Union.

Following the bilateral talks at the Schloss Elmau hotel in the Bavarian Alps, where leaders of seven major industrialised states are meeting for the annual G7 summit, a Downing Street source said that Mr Obama had "touched on" the issue of whether Britain would continue to meet the 2% target.

"The president underlined the importance of the UK and US as the two pillars of Nato, and said he accepted the fiscal challenges but hoped that the UK would find a way to meet it," said the source.

Asked if Mr Cameron had offered any assurances in response, the source declined to "give a running commentary", but said the PM had pointed to the numerous military operations around the world to which Britain has contributed.