Daily Mirror

Joe Biden may be ageing but he’s no ideologica­l dinosaur

- What do you think? write to yourvoice@mirror.co.uk

JOE Biden looked to be having a grand old time on his visit to Ireland this week.

The American President seemed genuinely happy to be touring the island his family hail from and which he calls his spiritual home.

He played a straight bat in Belfast, praising the Ulster Scots who helped build America, talking up his distant English roots and told both sides of the sectarian divide that if they can restore government, weighty US investment could follow.

Which was a blow to hardline Unionists and Tories who were willing him to spit on an orange sash or burst into Fenian rebel songs, thus confirming their view that he thinks all Brits are scumbags.

They were orgasmic when the gaffeprone octogenari­an mixed up the All Blacks and the Black and Tans, with the DUP’s Sammy Wilson calling him “a bumbling bigot”.

That gaffe apparently backed up Arlene Foster’s claim that “Joe Biden hates the UK” and gave right-wing media a free pass to label him a Britloathi­ng fanatic. They dragged out old footage of him joshing with the BBC about being Irish and joking that no-one wearing orange was welcome in his home.

This from people who crucify “the wokerati” for lacking a sense of humour.

They showed a photo of him with Gerry Adams, labelling him an IRA sympathise­r, despite there being plenty of photos of a smiling Queen shaking Martin McGuinness’s hand. They cited his snubbing of an invite to King Charles’s crowning as proof of his hatred for the royal family and his contempt for the special relationsh­ip, even though no US President has ever attended a British monarch’s Coronation. And they asked why, if his mission was to bring lasting peace to Ireland, did he address politician­s in the South but not the North? Well, he would have happily addressed Stormont had it been sitting, but now that Sinn Fein is the biggest party the DUP has no intention of working under a Nationalis­t majority.

Biden may well be an 80-year-old, dewy-eyed romantic who inherited an antipathy towards past British rulers, whom he believed exploited his ancestors. But the idea that he is an ideologica­l dinosaur whose pro-Irish sentiments threaten progress in Northern Ireland, as the likes of Kate Hoey have been spouting, is baloney.

He has twice backed post-Brexit deals between the UK and the EU over Northern Ireland (the Protocol and the Windsor Agreement) and he is urging the politician­s to get back into Stormont.

The fanatics clinging to a fanciful past are the Ulster Unionists and their Tory supporters who won’t be happy with a Brexit they demanded until there is a hard border separating those ruled from London with those ruled from Dublin.

Biden’s pro-Irish sentiments are a convenient smokescree­n, helping the Right deflect from the fact that the DUP is the biggest block to peace, unity and investment in Northern Ireland.

As we have seen, time and again, the party who, even former Ulster Unionist Leader David Trimble’s son Nicholas referred to this week as “myopic”, will only ever allow democracy to work in their province on their terms.

Sadly for the British, there were dinosaurs dangerousl­y clinging to a mythical past in Belfast this week, but one of them wasn’t Joe Biden.

‘‘ The fanatics clinging to a fanciful past are the Ulster Unionists

 ?? ?? GENUINE President Biden in Ireland
GENUINE President Biden in Ireland

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