Video: British PM David Cameron Tells Queen Elizabeth ‘Nigeria Is Fantastically Corrupt’

The Queen speaks to David Cameron on Tuesday. Photograph: WPA Pool/Getty Images

The PeoplesPeriscope has seen a video of British Prime Minister, PM David Cameron telling the Queen of England that Nigeria and Afghanistan are two of the most corrupt countries in the world, during a reception at Buckingham Palace to celebrate the monarch’s 90th birthday.

Cameron made the embarrassing remarks before the government’s anti-corruption summit on Thursday, at which Nigeria’s president, Muhammadu Buhari, will deliver a keynote address entitled “Why we must tackle corruption together”.

Cameron was overheard telling the monarch that “leaders of some fantastically corrupt countries” would be attending the meeting, before singling out the two nations.
A spokesman for Buhari, who won elections last year vowing to fight corruption, said he was deeply “shocked and embarrassed” by the comments, which he assumed must refer to problems in Nigeria that pre-dated his presidency.

An official in the Afghan embassy described the intervention as “unfair”, arguing the country had made important progress in this area.
Watch the video below:

David Cameron calls Nigeria and Afghanistan “fantastically” co…David Cameron is caught on camera telling the Queen that Nigeria and Afghanistan are “fantastically” corrupt.
Posted by Channel 4 News on Tuesday, May 10, 2016

The prime minister’s comments could also raise questions about aid payments to both countries, given that the UK spent £237m in Nigeria in 2014 and £198m in Afghanistan.
In a pooled video feed, Cameron was heard telling the Queen: “We had a very successful cabinet meeting this morning, talking about our anti-corruption summit. We have got the Nigerians – actually we have got some leaders of some fantastically corrupt countries coming to Britain.”
Speaking in front of the archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, and Speaker of the Commons, John Bercow, he continued: “Nigeria and Afghanistan – possibly two of the most corrupt countries in the world.”

The Queen did not immediately respond but Welby, who has worked in Nigeria when he was an oil executive, quickly cut in. “But this particular president is actually not corrupt,” he said, insisting that Buhari was “trying very hard”.
As the bizarre scene unfolded, Bercow then asked jokingly: “They are coming at their own expense aren’t they?”
“Yes,” responded the prime minister, with a laugh, before adding that the summit could be interesting as everything would be done in front of journalists.
It is not the first time that the prime minister has been indiscreet over matters relating to the Queen. In 2014, he was recorded saying that she had “purred down the line” when he told her the result of the Scottish independence referendum.

Cameron’s official spokesman hinted that he might have realised he was being filmed this time. “The cameras were very close to him. There were multiple cameras in the room,” he said.
The spokesman stressed that British aid money to Nigeria and Afghanistan is not paid directly to either government, and pointed out that both Buhari and Afghanistan’s president, Ashraf Ghani, had admitted to wide-scale problems in their countries.

In a book, to be published on Thursday as the summit gets under way, Ghani admits that Afghanistan is “one of the most corrupt countries on earth” while Buhari says corruption is a “way of life” in Nigeria under “supposedly accountable democratic governments”.
“Both leaders have been invited to the summit because they are driving the fight against corruption in their countries. The UK stands shoulder to shoulder with them as they do so,” he adds.