BORIS Johnson tonight said President Biden was a “breath of fresh air” in an apparent swipe at predecessor Donald Trump – and hailed the pair’s “great” talks.
The PM hailed the US President after one-on-one crunch meeting at the G7 in Cornwall earlier.
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Speaking afterwards, the PM spoke of the renewal of the Atlantic Charter of 1941 between Churchill and Roosevelt, saying it was a “massive, massive strategic importance” for both firms.
He revealed that “the talks were great” and “went on for a long time” in a show of the pair’s apparently good relationship.
This is the first time they have met since President Biden took office – and the US leader’s first overseas trip too.
And in a slight swipe at former leader President Trump, Boris added: “It’s fantastic, it’s a breath of a fresh air.”
He said the pair discussed several issues they wanted to work together on, from security to climate change, and their chats covered a “huge range of subjects”.
He was asked if the US leader had “made his alarm clear” about the Northern Ireland protocal – but he replied: “No, he didn’t”.
However, he said that the US, UK and EU all wanted to uphold the Good Friday agreement and “keep the balance of peace process going”, adding: “I’m optimistic that you could do that.”
It came as:
Foreign policy was touched upon – including discussion about Afghanistan, China, Iran and Russia, No10 revealed.
A Downing Street spokesperson said tonight that the two leaders “looked forward to important discussions at the G7 Summit in the coming days” and “discussed the importance of the relationship between the UK and the US for protecting our people, boosting prosperity in both our countries and promoting our values around the world.”
They added that they would work together even closer on a new US-UK trade deal which “would create jobs and bring new opportunities to both of our countries.”
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The spokesperson said: “They agreed that the UK-US partnership was more important than ever as we tackle shared challenges like climate change and building back better from the coronavirus pandemic.”
And both leaders will “work to reopen travel and to continue to share information that will help defeat the spread of coronavirus in our countries and internationally.”
Both leaders agreed that the UK and EU had a “responsibility to work together and to find pragmatic solutions” to allow trade to freely flow between Northern Ireland, Great Britain, and the Republic of Ireland.
The PM said he hoped that President Biden would return to the UK to attend the COP26 climate summit later this year, which is taking place in Glasgow in November.
No10 added:”The leaders agreed to not only work to reach net zero in their own countries, but also to make sure that developing world economies had access to green technology.”
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