Joe Biden planning to visit UK in first trip outside North America
Joe Biden is reportedly planning on visiting the UK as his first trip outside North America as US president.
Biden will come to Cornwall in June for the G7 summit, however he is also now planning on visiting Boris Johnson before this date to set the foundations for a renewed Transatlantic special relationship.
There had been some concerns in Downing Street before November’s election that Biden may not warm to Johnson over his role in Brexit and his relationship with Donald Trump.
Biden is also known to be proud of his Irish ancestry and publicly warned Johnson last year that there would be repercussions if he breached the Good Friday peace agreement in Brexit negotiations.
However, a source close to Biden has told the Sunday Telegraph that the president-elect wants to forge a strong relationship with the Prime Minister and his government.
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A UK government source said the UK would be second on Biden’s list of trips outside the US, after Canada.
The source close to Biden said: “Boris is a conservative, Joe’s a moderate [Democrat] so I think they can get over it. I think they’ll end up getting along.
“Joe’s view will be that they’ll have the destiny of the world on their shoulders so he’ll want to overcome any political differences.
“I think there’ll be more empathy than there was between Boris and Donald Trump. Boris seemed to get along with Trump, but I don’t know if he really did.”
Biden’s inauguration will be on Wednesday, with British ambassador to Washington Dame Karen Pierce expected to attend.
Labour is also considering sending leader Sir Keir Starmer or shadow foreign secretary Lisa Nandy to the ceremony.