US presidential candidate Barack Obama, wrapping up a tour abroad where he got a rock star reception, today defended his decision to take the trip despite signs it has not helped to boost his popularity at home.
"I am convinced that many of the issues we face at home are not going to be solved as effectively unless we have strong partners abroad," the Democratic senator told reporters in London on Saturday after meeting`British prime minister Gordon Brown.
"This was important for me not only to try to highlight or amplify how the international situation affects our economy back home, but also hopefully to give people at home - but also leaders abroad - some sense of where an Obama administration might take our foreign policy."
Mr Obama said he spoke with Brown on topics ranging from the Middle East to climate change, terrorism and financial markets.
The two men spent more than two hours together, first chatting on the patio of 10 Downing Street and during a brief stroll together in a tourist area nearby.
Mr Obama, vying with Republican John McCain in the November 4th US election, has been on an overseas tour that began in Iraq and Afghanistan and included Israel, Jordan and Kuwait as well as Europe. He aims to burnish his foreign policy credentials and counter McCain's criticism that he lacks experience.
A daily tracking poll from Gallup published on Friday showed Mr Obama with a six-point lead over Mr McCain, close to the lead he has held over his Republican rival for the past several weeks.
Back in the United States, Mr McCain sought to turn Obama's trip against him, suggesting it was a slight to US voters.
"This week the presidential contest was a long-distance affair, with my opponent touring various continents," the Arizona senator said in a radio address.
"With all the breathless coverage from abroad, and with Senator Obama now addressing his speeches to 'the people of the world,' I'm starting to feel a little left out. Maybe you are too."
In Europe, Mr Obama is hugely popular with his early opposition to the invasion of Iraq accounting for part of the appeal. He has called for a refocusing of US efforts on Afghanistan and an end to the Iraq war.
Mr Obama talked of his proposal to add more troops in Afghanistan and said, in reference to his call for Europe to increase its contribution there, "Obviously we'd like some of that burden shared."
Outside 10 Downing Street some fans of his chanted Mr Obama's campaign mantra: "Yes, we can."
But the London stop, the last one before Obama heads home to Chicago, was more low-key than earlier legs of his trip.
In Berlin, Mr Obama drew a crowd of 200,000 people to an outdoor speech and he elicited effusive praise from French President Nicolas Sarkozy at the Elysee Palace in Paris.