London - MENA
British Prime Minister David Cameron has attempted to explain why he decided to lean in for a ‘selfie’ with Barack Obama and the Danish prime minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt during Nelson Mandela’s memorial service in Johannesberg. Speaking to MPs today, The Independent quoted him as saying: “When a member of the Kinnock family asked me for a photograph, I thought it was only polite to say yes.” Thorning-Schmidt, the Social Democrat leader in Denmark, is married to former Labour leader Neil Kinnock’s son, Stephen Kinnock. However, his comment may do little to offset the outrage sparked by the whimsical mobile photo, which many deemed ‘inappropriate’ given the nature of the occasion. “What selfish morons take a 'selfie' at a memorial service? Oh yeah that's right, Barack Obama and David Cameron,” one Twitter user wrote. “You have precisely zero class or decorum,” another message, directed at David Cameron, read. And they weren’t the only ones who were less than impressed. Michelle Obama was captured looking stony-faced as her husband snapped away with the two leaders in the stands.