The British media has slammed US Presidential candidate Mitt Romney for making a number of gaffes during his trip to London, with some tabloid headlines calling him a “Party-Pooper” and “Mitt the Twit.”

A British newspaper headlined a story about Romney’s visit with a spiteful quote from Olympian Carl Lewis: “I swear, sometimes I think some Americans shouldn’t leave the country.”

“Are you kidding me, stay home if you don’t know what to say,” added Lewis.

Romney had expressed doubts that London may not be ready to host the Olympics in an interview just after his arrival, saying there were some “disconcerting” signs of organizational and security issues.

In little more than 24 hours in London, the U.S. presidential candidate has gotten Britons to stop complaining about bumper-to-bumper traffic, cringing about cost overruns and fretting about shoddy security — and instead start taking pride in their country’s long-awaited day in the sun.

From Prime Minister David Cameron to ordinary Londoners rushing to work, Britons recoiled at the visiting American’s suggestion that the logistical problems encountered so far were “disconcerting.” Many who have themselves been slamming organizers as incompetent, and the massive competition as an expensive fiasco, are suddenly rallying around the flag.

“Mitt the Twit” screamed Friday’s headline in The Sun, which just days ago was trumpeting an embarrassing incident in which an official bus carrying the U.S. team from Heathrow airport got lost and spent hours in traffic.

“Who invited party-pooper Romney?” asked the Daily Mail.

“Nowhere Man” declared the more reserved Times of London, a reference to a biting comment by the famously diplomatic Cameron, who implied that Romney lacked the experience to offer advice to one of the world’s great capitals since the Olympics he helped organize in Salt Lake City, Utah, took place “in the middle of nowhere.”

“We are holding an Olympic Games in one of the busiest, most active, bustling cities anywhere in the world. Of course, it’s easier if you hold an Olympic Games in the middle of nowhere,” Cameron said.

Colorful London Mayor Boris Johnson also got in on the act, using Romney’s criticism as a rallying cry to stoke up a crowd of tens of thousands gathered at Hyde Park on Thursday night: “There’s a guy called Mitt Romney who wants to know if we are ready. Are we ready? Yes, we are!”

Residents learned of Romney’s comments from friends, television and social media. And the fact the Republican presidential candidate spent hours trying to dial back his dig with more positive statements seemed to win him little favour.

“What would he know?” asked Londoner Liudmila Troshina, wearing a Team Great Britain jersey and posing for pictures along with her husband in Piccadilly Circus. “I don’t really care what people from other countries think about us because I take my information firsthand — from people who live here.”

“No matter what some man said, we are prepared … to support our country, our city and our sportsmen with everything we have,” she added.

Those sentiments are a quick about-face from the weeks of moaning many Britons have engaged in prior to the games, which begin with the opening ceremony Friday night.

For months, the nation has been awash in complaints — from taxi drivers angry over special traffic lanes for Olympics VIPS, to slack-jawed travellers staring down long lines at immigration, to commuters apoplectic about being asked to rethink their journey to avoid the crush of Olympic tourists, to residents alarmed that surface-to-air missiles have been placed on their roofs to fight terrorism.

Even the heavens have come in for a browbeating, with the Times of London publishing an editorial recently demanding an end to weeks of rain.

“It is a British sport,” Labour lawmaker David Winnick told The Associated Press on Friday. “We always complain.”

He should know.

One of the iconic images of London’s troubles was Winnick’s cutting exchange with the head of the G4S security group earlier this month after the company failed to provide enough Olympics workers, forcing the British military to step in.

“It’s a humiliating shambles for the country, isn’t it?” Winnick demanded of Nick Buckles after the CEO offered a groveling mea culpa on live TV, repeating the charge until Buckles could not deny that it was.

But even Winnick winced when he heard what Romney had to say.

“These are internal matters that would be well dealt with under our own democratic system,” he said. “There is a feeling, and I’m sure it applies in the United States, that … families can quarrel bitterly in private, but should anyone from the outside have a go, the family is united. In other words: ‘Mind your own business.’”

After his widespread criticism, Romney immediately went on the back foot and tried to control any further damage.

On Friday, Romney said: “After being here a couple of days, it looks to me like London is ready.”

Meanwhile, reports in the British media have emerged that Romney made another, but less-publicized blunder in London on Thursday.

In a brief press conference after leaving from a meeting with Prime Minister David Cameron at 10 Downing Street, Romney nonchalantly mentioned he had met with the head of the British intelligence agency MI6.

The UK takes its super-secret intelligence service very seriously, refusing to even confirm its existence until 1994.

However, Britain’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office, which handles press for MI6, said Romney’s comment was a slip-up, and refused to acknowledge any such meeting.

For more on this tory go to:

http://zeenews.india.com/news/world/mitt-the-twit-romney-roasted-for-london-trip_790229.html

and

http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/1232896–why-mitt-the-twit-romney-may-be-the-best-thing-to-happen-to-london-s-olympics