Boris Johnson Says Call With Biden was ‘Refreshing’, Refers to Trump as the ‘Previous President’

LONDON, ENGLAND - NOVEMBER 10: Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson returns to number 10
Leon Neal/Getty Images
Kurt Zindulka

Prime Minister Boris Johnson described his phone call with former Vice President Joe Biden as “refreshing”, in an apparent dig at President Donald Trump, who he referred to as the “previous president”.

On Tuesday, Boris Johnson revealed that he had spoken to the 77-year-old Democrat, to congratulate him after the mainstream media declared him the winner of the presidential election, as well as to discuss future ‘Build Back Better’ opportunities on issues such as climate change.

During Prime Minister Questions on Wednesday, Mr Johnson said: “One of the many merits of the excellent conversation I had yesterday with President-Elect Joe Biden was that we strongly agreed on the need for once again the United Kingdom and the United States to stand together to stick up for our values around the world – to stick up for human rights and stick up for free trade, to stick up for NATO Mr Speaker, and to work together in the fight against climate change.”

“It was refreshing, if I may say, to have that conversation and I look forward to many more,” Mr Johnson added, possibly in comparison to talks with President Trump.

Boirs Johnson went on to falsely refer to Trump as the “previous president,” while claiming that he had a “good relationship” with the current American leader. President Trump has yet to concede the election and has launched legal challenges alleging voter fraud and improprieties in battleground states.

Mr Johnson explained that “it is the duty of all British prime ministers to have a good relationship with the White House. But I’m delighted to find the many areas in which the incoming Biden/Harris administration is able to make common cause with us.”

“In particular, it was extremely exciting to talk to president-elect Biden about what he wants to do with the COP26 summit next year, in which the UK is leading the world in driving down carbon emissions and tackling climate change.”

The fawning praise for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris may be a result of growing fear in the United Kingdom that should Mr Biden succeed in reaching the White House, the United States would side with the European Union in Brexit negotiations.

Anthony Gardner, an advisor to the Biden campaign and former U.S. ambassador to the EU, described Brexit as the “biggest own-goal that I’ve seen in my lifetime,” and revealed that a Biden administration would announce a “declaration of support for the European Union”.

Mr Biden himself has been a longstanding opponent of the pro-sovereignty Brexit movement, saying in 2016 after the results of the EU referendum: “I must say we preferred a different outcome.”

“Had I been a Member of Parliament, had I been a British citizen, I would have voted against leaving,” Biden restated in 2018.

In a column in the British broadsheet The Daily Telegraph on Wednesday, Reform UK party leader Nigel Farage also cast doubt over the future relationship between London and Washington and the prospects of a UK-U.S. trade deal should Biden prevail.

Mr Farage said that the British government “squandered” four years of having a pro-Britain president in the White House, writing: “Now, the chance of a trade agreement with America has almost certainly evaporated if, as seems likely, Joe Biden is confirmed as the new president.”

“After years of failure, Britain is now caught in a trap between Brussels and Washington. Stranded in the mid-Atlantic, we have played ourselves into a form of checkmate. Brexit talks have stalled and this time the clock is genuinely running down. Johnson now faces a simple choice. He can either strike a deal with which both Washington and Brussels are happy, or he can go it alone and be criticised for looking friendless in the world,” Farage declared.

The arch-Brexiteer said that he believes in the coming months there will be a “reappraisal Donald Trump’s presidency” once it is realised amongst the establishment what they had in Trump, who he described as a “true ally and friend” of Britain.

Farage said that a trade deal with the European Union that fails to deliver on the promises of freedom and prosperity made in 2016 and the 2019 general election is now “looking like a certainty”.

He concluded by saying that “if all of this comes to pass, to say that it would be a disappointment would be the biggest understatement of my career.”

Follow Kurt Zindulka on Twitter here: @KurtZindulka

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