British Prime Minister David Cameron, at the G8 summit in Huntsville, Ont., was interviewed by the CBC's Peter Mansbridge for The National on Friday night. (Pawel Dwulit)

British Prime Minister David Cameron says that despite BP's responsibility for the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, it's important for thousands of people that the company remain viable.

"This is a very vital company for all of our interests," Cameron said in an exclusive interview with CBC's Peter Mansbridge.

Cameron, in Canada for the G8/G20 summits, will be meeting face to face with U.S. President Barack Obama, who has had harsh words for the company since the spill occurred.

"I don't think [the spill] has been damaging for Britain. It's certainly been damaging for BP which is an important British company and I certainly … want it to be, an important and stable company in the future," Cameron said.

He noted that 40 per cent of the company's shares are held by Americans, followed by 39 per cent in the U.K. He added that the company is responsible for providing thousands of jobs in both countries.

Cameron said he understands Obama's frustrations about the company and that it's "heartbreaking" to see the effects of the "environmental catastrophe."

He said BP is committed to capping the well, cleaning up the spill and paying out compensation. But at the same time, "we don't want to see the destruction of the company that is important for all our interests."

Cameron also spoke about his new coalition government, suggesting that the circumstances that led to him forming a deal with his political rivals are not necessarily the same in other countries like Canada.

"The reason I was able to help put this coalition together is that the Liberal Democrats wanted to do the same thing as us, which was to put aside differences for the national interest. And they were prepared to take risks as we were prepared to take risks in order to do that," Cameron said. "And that situation doesn't always make itself available in every country."

Cameron also talked about the key role accountability plays in the G8 summit, despite what detractors might believe.

"We are doing it to an extent here at the G8 by having an accountability report published about the promises we made back at the famous Gleneagles G8, where there was a big brouhaha about the promises made to Africa," Cameron said.

"And there is a report coming out showing who is on target and who isn't, and that is part of the accountability."

There was much criticism from debt-relief activists that the G8 countries failed to make good on a commitment made at the 2005 summit in Gleneagles, Scotland, to boost aid to Africa by $50 billion by 2010.

But what happens, Mansbridge asked Cameron in the interview, "When you look around the table and delegate X has not delivered. Is it a lot of finger-pointing happening at that point?"

There is not necessarily finger-pointing, Cameron replied.

"But the fact is back at home we all have to justify ourselves to the huge percentage of our population that care deeply about these issues," he says.

"You know, in all our countries, we have organizations, whether it's Oxfam, whether it's Save the Children International, with massive public support, and they will rightly hold our feet to the fire and say, 'Have you guys done what you said you were going to do?' and so I think that is important."