Simmonds stays in prime form to take another gold in Cameron’s presence

Current PM David Cameron and former incumbent Gordon Brown witnessed a second gold medal in world record time.

Walsall’s Simmonds was catapulted into the public eye four years ago after shedding tears on the podium when she won two titles in Beijing at the age of 13.

Fifth after the butterfly leg yesterday and fourth at halfway, Simmonds made her way up to second at the final turn where she produced a blistering freestyle – 1.38secs faster than anyone in the field – to touch in 3 mins 05.39 secs.

Victory sent the Aquatics Centre into a frenzy as with her S6 400m freestyle win on Saturday.

While Cameron was not greeted with universal applause on being introduced prior to the medal ceremony, any boos were drowned out by the raucous cheers.

It was not the pair’s first meeting of which she said: “I’ve met him at his house, in No 10. It’s great to meet him in my place, really, at the pool.

“It was just congratulations.Being on the podium was just an amazing atmosphere ... and to be on it second time running. I’m just really pleased.”

Her effort was 1.58secs inside the mark she had set yesterday morning, an ambition she had in mind last night. She said: “Yes, definitely. Personally I believed I was going to get that gold medal.

“(Last night) I knew I was on form from the morning. I knew it was going to be tough, but mainly I was racing against myself. I knew there was going to be people out there to watch.”

Leeds’s Claire Cashmore won a bronze medal as Britain claimedthird in the women’s 4x100m (34pts) freestyle relay.

Cashmore gave them the lead at the halfway point but Australia took over on the third leg and went on to win with USA second.

China’s Xu Qing cut an astonishing 3.37secs off Sascha Kindred’s world record to win the men’s equivalent race.

The Briton had not been dislodged from the top of the podium since first claiming gold in Sydney 12 years ago and was fourth at halfway before his breaststroke leg pulled him up to second, narrowly behind Xu.

It looked as though it would be a stroke for stroke duel but the Chinese pulled away.

Natasha Baker won the Grade II dressage freestyle competition at Greenwich Park with a Paralympic record score of 82.800 per cent, adding another title to her individual crown collected just 48 hours earlier.

Wheelchair sprinter Mickey Bushell upgraded his Beijing silver to gold in London with victory in the T53 100m.

And paralympic debutant Paul Davies claimed Britain’s second table tennis medal of the games when he beat Lee Chang-ho in the C1 third-place match.