Mr Cameron derided Mr Ahmadinejad from the United Nations podium minutes after the Iranian leader's ferocious attack on Western powers and Israel.
All 27 European delegations left the chamber midway through his speech, a few minutes after the Americans had vacated their seats. The protest was planned in the expectation that Mr Ahmadinejad would prove controversial.
David Cameron, who addressed the assembly shortly after Mr Ahmadinejad, said: "He didn't remind us that he runs a country where they may have elections of a sort but they also repress freedom of speech, do everything they can to avoid the accountability of a free media, violently prevent demonstrations and detain and torture those who argue for a better future."
Mark Kornblau, a spokesman for the US mission to the UN, said: "Mr Ahmadinejad had a chance to address his own people's aspirations for freedom and dignity, but instead he again turned to abhorrent anti-Semitic slurs and despicable conspiracy theories."
The Iranian leader surpassed even his own outspoken standards as he accused the US of using the "mysterious" September 11 attacks as a pretext to launch wars on Iraq and Afghanistan. » | Alex Spillius in New York | Thursday, September 22, 2011
