US President Barack Obama has called on the UK to stay within the European Union in an interview with BBC.

Obama said the UK has been America’s “best partner” since it has worked with the US beyond its, “immediate self-interests to make this a more orderly, safer world”, reported BBC News.

It is the latest sign of the importance Washington places on the UK remaining in the EU, after comments made by Mr Obama at the G7 summit of world leaders in Germany in June.

Obama added in an another excerpt from the interview that his biggest frustration was the failure to pass “common-sense gun safety laws” in the United States “even in the face of repeated mass killings”.

The US administration has previously expressed concerns about the UK’s commitment to military spending and had pressed for Mr Cameron to commit to the target.

He was speaking to the BBC at the White House before departing for Kenya, where he begins a short tour of Africa.

President Barack Obama says that there’s one elusive goal that frustrates him more than all others. He said it had resulted in tens of thousands of deaths since 9/11 compared to less than 100 from terrorism.

Despite the legislative setbacks, Obama told the BBC that he wouldn’t stop pursuing goals that could lower the number of mass shootings.

But progress was being made, he insisted, adding that children growing up during his presidency “will have a different view of race relations in this country and what’s possible”.