David Cameron has been denounced as "dumb" and "completely useless" by Argentina's ambassador to London.
On Tuesday Alicia Castro told a meeting at the Argentine Senate in Buenos Aires that the prime minister had made a mistake in highlighting the Pope Francis' past comments that supported Argentina's sovereignty of the Falkland Islands.
According to the Buenos Aires Herald, Castro said: "We are extremely lucky to have an Argentine, 'Malvinero' Pope. Above all because prime minister Cameron was so foolish, dumb and completely useless when [Jorge] Bergoglio was named Pope: because he let slip that Bergoglio had made a historic speech about the Malvinas.”
The ambassador is also reported to have added: “Prime minister Cameron was dumb, if I may use the word dumb before Congress."
The Pope had once described the Falkland Islands as Argentine soil that was "usurped" by Britain.
In March, Cameron said he did not agree with the pontiff, "respectfully, obviously."
He said: "There was a pretty extraordinarily clear referendum in the Falkland Islands, and I think that is a message to everyone in the world that the people of these islands have chosen very clearly the future they want and that choice should be respected by everyone."
At the meeting on Tuesday Castro also said the British position on the Falklands was "not rational” and derived "from the imperial politics of the UK and their need to hold a strategic position in the South Atlantic that gives them dominion of the seas”.
Earlier this year nn overwhelming 99.8 percent of Falkland Islands voted to remain a British Overseas Territory. Of the 1,517 valid votes cast, only three islanders voted "no" to the question: "Do you wish the Falkland Islands to retain their current political status as an Overseas Territory of the United Kingdom?"