David Cameron becomes first UK PM to star on Late Show with David Letterman‏

David Cameron became the first serving UK prime minister to appear on the high-profile US Late Showwith David Letterman where he was quizzed on British culture and history.

After touching on the issues surrounding Syria and the Arab Spring, Letterman grilled Cameron on the composition of Rule Britannia, the origins of the Magna Carter and the make-up of the United Kingdom.

Cameron had said he would use the show to “bang the drum” for Britain, and raised applause from the audience when he hailed the successful hosting of the Olympic and Paralympic games this summer.

But he ignored an apparent dig by Letterman at Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, who famously questioned if London was ready for the Olympics.

“The idea that two major world-class athletics events took place in London, who would have bet against that going off flawlessly, as it seems to have done?” joked Letterman.

Cameron also boasted of his government’s efforts to create a good environment for investment in the UK, and about the creation of one million private sector jobs over the past two years.

But he admitted that he was “not very popular at the moment,” blaming his low ratings on the austerity policies needed to cut the deficit.

He also revealed that it was thanks to TV that he was first recognised in the US, when he was walking in the streets of New York and was spotted by a passer-by who shouted: “Hey! Prime Minister’s Questions! We love your show!”

His guest appearance follows two days in New York in which he used a speech at the United Nations and an appearance on the show to highlight London’s successful delivery of the 2012 Games.

Cameron is the first sitting British prime minister to join Letterman in the Ed Sullivan Theatre on Broadway, the famous venue for the Beatles’ first US TV performance in 1964, though Tony Blair has appeared twice on the show since leaving office.

Zanib Asghar