BOJO ON MISSION TO MAKE PEACE WITH BIDEN
Hope of US tour agreements
BORIS Johnson will try to build bridges with Joe Biden at the White House this week over the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan.
The Prime Minister will also attempt to mend the rift with the President about the Northern Ireland border as he seeks a post-brexit US trade deal.
In addition, he is expected to raise the US travel ban imposed on Brits since last year due to Covid, while American tourists are now allowed into the UK.
The PM flies out today to New
York, where he will address the
UN General Assembly and push world leaders for more action on climate change amid fears that global efforts are falling short.
In Washington, as well as meeting Mr Biden he will meet vicepresident Kamala Harris. Mr
Johnson is joined by new Foreign
Secretary Liz Truss on the tour, his first major foreign visit since he was elected in 2019, three months before the pandemic began.
British-us relations have been rocky since Mr Biden took office in January, despite him and Mr Johnson smiling together for cameras at June’s G7 summit in Cornwall.
The Prime Minister regards a trade deal with the US as a major Brexit prize and hopes to persuade Washington he is not putting peace in Northern Ireland at risk by threatening to suspend Brexit agreements with the EU – but senior Government insiders admit it is proving difficult.
On climate, the PM is desperate for November’s hundred-nation COP26 climate summit in Glasgow to be a success.
He said: “My message to those I meet this week will be clear – future generations will judge us on what we achieve in the coming months.
“I’ll push world leaders for concrete action on coal, climate, cars and trees so we can make COP26 a success.”
He will also seek a common UN Security Council
approach on Afghanistan.
I’ll push world leaders for concrete action
on climate