Although known not to be keen on the well-worn phrase “special relationship”, believing it makes the UK look weak, British PM Boris Johnson has told the BBC the alliance between the United States and the UK is indestructible relationship after meeting U.S. President Joe Biden for the first time.
After meeting Biden in Carbis Bay, Cornwall, on Thursday ahead of the G7 summit of world leaders, Johnson said that UK and the US have a real congruence of views on some stuff that really matters to the world, calling it a relationship that has endured for a very long time, and has been an important part of peace and prosperity both in Europe and around the world.
According to the British PM, UK and U.S. share similar belief in human rights, the rules-based international order and the transatlantic alliance, updating their World War II-era Atlantic Charter that focuses on full-throttle liberalism that the Trump interrupted with his transactional ‘America First’ foreign policy.
Johnson praised Biden’s desire to bring back classic Western-led globalism, describing dealing with Biden as a breath of fresh air, and said he was impressed by Biden’s willingness to do things together, be they security, NATO or climate change.
Although Britain and the EU are at loggerheads over the implementation of the Northern Ireland Protocol (NIP) – the part of the Brexit deal that prevents checks along the Irish border- with Biden previously warning that the new arrangements shouldn’t jeopardise the Good Friday Agreement, Johnson has played down differences with Washington, expressing confidence they could reach an agreement on the issue.
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