U.S. presidential candidate Mitt Romney met with British Prime Minister David Cameron in London Thursday as the presumptive Republican nominee began a three-nation international tour.

Romney arrived in the British capital Wednesday and will attend Friday's opening ceremonies for the Olympics. He then travels to Israel and Poland in a bid to boost his foreign policy credentials.

Public opinion polls show that Americans consider foreign policy a strength from President Barack Obama, while the businessman and one-term governor Mitt Romney gets higher ratings on how he would handle the economy.

President Obama embarked on his own European trip while he was the Democratic nominee in the 2008 election.

Romney's campaign had promised he would avoid criticizing the president abroad.

However, the British Daily Telegraph quoted an unidentified Romney adviser as saying Mr. Obama did not fully appreciate the shared “Anglo-Saxon heritage” that underscores the relationship between the United States and Britain. The Obama campaign strongly criticized the comments, while representatives for Romney disputed them and said they did not reflect the candidate's beliefs.

In an interview with NBC News, Romney said the two nations share “a very common bond” and that he believes President Obama shares this view.