‘We both married above our station’: Biden jokes with Johnson as they set aside Brexit rift
President Biden received a warm welcome in England from Prime Minister Boris Johnson — but dodged a handshake from Johnson to first greet his new 33-year-old bride, telling the UK leader he “married up” — amid a reported dust up over Northern Ireland.
“Wait a minute! Wait a minute!” Biden said Thursday, waving off Johnson as he emerged from his motorcade.
Biden, 78, walked past Johnson with a beaming smile on his face.
“Good to see you! Best wishes!” Biden said, bumping wrists with Carrie Johnson, who wed the prime minister last month.
Turning to Johnson, Biden told him, “We have something in common, man. We both married up!”
Biden, who often makes uncomfortable remarks during his interactions with women and girls, returned to the topic of Johnson’s third wife later while addressing reporters indoors.
“I’m thrilled to meet your wife,” Biden said. “I told the prime minister we have something in common: We both married above our station.”
Biden and Johnson swapped other compliments as the leaders moved to change the topic from a reported clash on Northern Ireland policy.
“It gorgeous. I don’t want to go home,” Biden flattered Johnson while taking in the view of the scenic St. Ives Bay.
“Everybody’s absolutely thrilled to see you,” Johnson gushed to Biden.
The meeting is Biden’s first with a foreign leader abroad since taking office and will seek to underscore the “special relationship” between the UK and US.
But the meeting was overshadowed by a report in The Times of London that Biden ordered a top US diplomat to scold Johnson’s Brexit minister ahead of the trip over Northern Ireland policy.
Biden aides anonymously denied that the US president ordered the dressing-down of a top Johnson deputy.
At issue in Northern Ireland is how to resurrect — or not — economic barriers between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland following the UK’s decision to leave the European Union.
Top US diplomat Yael Lempert, who is the acting deputy ambassador in London, allegedly told Brexit Minister David Frost that Johnson’s conservative government was “inflaming” sectarian tensions in Northern Ireland by trying to avoid the imposition of intra-UK port checks for the region.
Focusing on common ground, Biden and Johnson on Thursday unveiled a freshened-up version of the 1941 Atlantic Charter that was inked by Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill during World War II. The historic document committed the US and Britain to a post-war vision of economic cooperation, democracy and political stability.
A new eight-point document commits the US and UK to tackle “health crises” amid the COVID-19 pandemic and to “manage the peril of emerging technologies” amid recentcyberattacks from suspected Russian hackers.
The new document also commits the countries to “act urgently and ambitiously to tackle the climate crisis,” using a term to describe global warming.
Much of Biden’s meeting with Johnson happened behind closed doors. According to Reuters, Johnson gave Biden a framed photograph of a British mural that honors US abolitionist Frederick Douglass. The Daily Mail reports that avid cyclist Biden gifted Johnson a new bike and helmet.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the gift exchange and Biden did not take questions from reporters after the talks concluded.
After the meeting, Johnson, who was a close ally of former President Donald Trump, told British reporters that working with Biden was “a big breath of fresh air.”
“We went on for about an hour and 20 or so. It was a long, long, good session. We covered a huge range of subjects,” Johnson said. He said there was “complete harmony” on the goal of maintaining peace in Northern Ireland and keeping in effect the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.
Biden met with Johnson before this week’s seven-nation G7 economic summit, which also features leaders from Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan.
On Sunday, Biden will meet with Queen Elizabeth II at Windsor Castle before heading to a NATO summit in Belgium and then a meeting Wednesday with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Geneva, Switzerland.
