David Cameron has disclosed that Barack Obama “tucked him up in bed” aboard Air Force One during his recent trip to the United States.
The Prime Minister said the US President offered him use of his bed on the plane as the pair flew back to Washington after watching a basketball match in Dayton, Ohio last week.
Mr Cameron said: “On the way back, it was about 4 o’clock in the morning UK time, so he said ‘David, why don’t you use my bed and put your feet up’.
“So I duly did and Barack went to the back of the plane and explained to my private secretary and the team, he said ‘Don’t worry, the British Prime Minister is fine, I’ve just tucked him up in bed’.
“I don’t think that’s happened before.”
Speaking at a business awards ceremony in his Oxfordshire constituency filmed by Witney TV, Mr Cameron likened the anecdote to amusing situations Sir Winston Churchill and Baroness Thatcher experienced alongside their US counterparts.
He said: “I think all Prime Ministers and Presidents like to think they bring something to the special relationship … a special anecdote.
“We remember the story of Winston Churchill when he stayed in the White House and he was in the bath. Roosevelt walked into the bathroom and Churchill stood up and said ‘The British Prime Minister has nothing to hide from the President of the United States’.
“We also remember the time Margaret Thatcher said to George Bush senior ‘Don’t go wobbly on me George’.”
Mr Cameron also joked that he had struggled to maintain the attention of Michelle Obama when he sat next to her at a White House banquet last Wednesday because of other guests at the table.
He quipped: “I had the huge honour of sitting next to Michelle Obama. The only problem was the man on her other side was George Clooney and I found it quite difficult to compete.”