Cameron derides Bush-era policy

British Prime Minister David Cameron contradicted George W. Bush yesterday when he said he did not believe that the controversial interrogation technique of waterboarding saved lives.

The Prime Minister, who was speaking at the G20 summit in South Korea, repeated the official British line that torture was wrong.

He also went further, criticising policies pursued by the Bush Administration on the detention and treatment of prisoners which he said had helped to radicalise people and had made the West "less safe".

"I think torture is wrong and I think we ought to be very clear about that," Cameron said.

"I think we should also be clear that if actually you're getting information from torture, it's very likely to be unreliable information."

Bush's memoirs, Decision Points, published this week, asserted that the waterboarding of prisoners had averted large-scale terrorist attacks on London targets.

The former United States President also said that he did not believe that waterboarding constituted torture.