The Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010 sparked a media firestorm against BP in the United States . '' The Christian Science Monitor '' observed that a " rhetorical prickliness " had come about from escalating Obama administration criticism of BP — straining the Special Relationship — particularly the repeated use of the term " British Petroleum " even though the business no longer uses that name . Cameron stated that he did not want to make the president 's toughness on BP a U.S. – U.K. issue , and noted that the company was balanced in terms of the number of its American and British shareholders . The validity of the Special Relationship was put in question as a result of the " aggressive rhetoric "
Deepwater Horizon oil spill
Deepwater Horizon oil spill
Special Relationship