David Cameron and Barack Obama are so close that the United States President calls him “Bro,” the Prime Minister has claimed.
Saying that the two leaders are on intimate terms, he added: “The President has said the special relationship is stronger than it has ever been privately and in public and I agree.”
According to the Urban Dictionary, the phrase “Bro,” short for “brother,” is used to refer to young white Americans, often fellow members of a university fraternity, who emulate black rap culture.
However, Mr Obama may have simply meant it to imply a familial closeness between the two.
Mr Cameron told the Mail on Sunday: "Yes, he sometimes calls me 'Bro'."
Despite coming from opposing wings of their respective political systems, Mr Cameron and Mr Obama have always appeared relatively at ease in each other’s company, in contrast to the often fraught meetings between the US president and Gordon Brown.
And even though they have shared moments of high tension on the international stage, they have even managed to get up to mischief together.
Both were criticised for taking a “selfie” along with Helle Thorning-Schmidt, the Danish Prime Minister, at the funeral of the late Nelson Mandela.
They are also known for enjoying sporting occasions. In 2012, Mr Cameron flew on President Obama’s private jet to attend a college basketball game, where they ate hot dogs together.
However, their friendship has not been without awkward moments.
In 2011, Mr Cameron’s attempted to join President Obama in a game of ping pong during a visit to a school and ended up looking like “the kid who is picked last for PE.”
And earlier this year, the prime minister was mocked for tweeting a photograph of himself on the phone to the American president in which he wore a “serious face” as they discussed the crisis in Ukraine.
Some might question the suggestion that the special relationship is closer than ever before, however, particularly when their connection is compared to the genuine friendships which evolved between some of their predecessors.
The rapport between Tony Blair and President George W Bush forged in the wake of the 9/11 attacks on the US have led some to suggest that the former Labour prime minister was enticed follow the Americans into in Iraq without sufficient justification.
Mr Blair was accused of being President Bush's "poodle," a taunt which appeared reinforced when the US president was caught on a hidden microphone at an international summit addressing the then-prime minister as "Yo, Blair."
President Ronald Reagan and the then-Margaret Thatcher maintained their friendship long after both left office.
And is unlikely that any US and UK leaders will ever again recreate the bond which existed between Winston Churchill and President Franklin D Roosevelt as they fought the threat from Nazi Germany together.
