Joe Biden backs down: White House desperately rows back from claims president rebuked Boris Johnson for 'inflaming tensions' in Northern Ireland through 'sausage war' spat with EU - as furious Brexiteers brand US leader 'senile'
Joe Biden's White House tried to put out the flames of a major transatlantic bust-up with Britain today after the president was accused of rebuking to Boris Johnson for 'inflaming tensions' in Northern Ireland.
Brexiteer Tories branded the 78-year-old Democrat 'senile' after he failed to side with the UK in its 'sausage war' bust-up with the EU.
The US President used his diplomats to express 'great concern' over the conflict centred on post-Brexit trade rules agree last year by both sides, which the UK is now seeking to change, the Times reported today.
The US is said to have issued a 'demarche' to Britain, an official diplomatic censure not normally used against allies, especially those as close as the two nations.
The United States was said to have 'strongly urged' Britain to 'stay cool' and reach an agreement, even if that meant making 'unpopular compromises'.
The report prompted a massive backlash from Tory backbenchers and the DUP leader Edwin Poots after the PM was accused of 'inflaming tensions' in Northern Ireland and threatening the peace process.
But ahead of bilateral talks between the two leaders due to take place later this afternoon, a senior Biden administration official said: 'This is wrong.
'First this discussion wasn't directed by the president. It was not heightened. As with any ally we have diplomatic conversations about areas where we have concern at many levels.
'Jake (Sullivan - US national security adviser) addressed the issue of Northern Ireland during his BBC interview and the message sent privately was exactly the same.'
However, if it is confirmed that a demarche was sent, it will show the strength of feeling in the Biden administration over Northern Ireland.
The rebuke came as crunch talks between Britain and Brussels over sausage imports failed to make a breakthrough. European Commission vice-president Maros Sefcovic threatened to retaliate if the UK takes unilateral action to continue the flow of British-produced chilled meats to Northern Ireland.
DUP leader Mr Poots lashed out at Mr Biden today, accusing him of trying to drive 'a coach and horses through the Good Friday Agreement' that guarantees sectarian peace in Northern Ireland'.
Mr Poots, who wants the Northern Ireland Protocol of the Brexit deal removed, told the BBC: 'This is effectively a constitutional change. Would president Biden for example allow Alaska, which is separate and distinct from the rest of the land block of the USA, but still part of the USA, to be taking laws from Canada, and have its laws applied from Canada?'
And an anonymous Tory MP told Politico: 'America should remember who their allies are... unfortunately he's (Biden) so senile that he probably won't remember what we tell him anyway.
'Unless an aide is listening I'm not sure he's going to remember for very long.'
The row now seems certain to overshadow talks between Mr Johnson and Mr Biden today ahead of the G7 meeting of world leaders in Cornwall. Mr Biden arrived in the UK with huge fanfare last night.
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said on Thursday that the protocol was the 'one and only solution' to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland and that she still saw 'fundamental gaps' in Britain's implementation of it.
US President Joe Bid embarking Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Base to travel to England for the G7 and meeting with Boris Johnson
he Prime Minister Boris Johnson with his wife Carrie on the beach at the Carbis Bay, Cornwall today, ahead of Friday's G7 summit.
EU institution leaders will use the summit to tell Mr Johnson that Britain and the EU had both agreed the protocol governing Northern Ireland trade arrangements and that Britain must apply it and not make unilateral changes.
'We will discuss that in a trilateral meeting in Cornwall together. We are determined to do everything to keep peace and stability on the island of Ireland. It is important that there is deep respect for the protocol,' von der Leyen told a news conference.
Mr Johnson received another blow today, with plans to host the Biden talks on the picturesque St Michael's Mount island scuppered by the dreary Cornish weather.
Mr Biden is also said to have communicated to Britain that accepting demands to stick to EU agricultural rules would not 'negatively affect the chances' of coming to a free trade deal with Britain.
He has begun his first foreign trip as president, consisting of eight days in Europe where he will meet Boris Johnson and his new wife Carrie, the rest of the G7 leaders, The Queen, NATO officials and Russian Premier Vladimir Putin on June 16 in Geneva.
A No10 spokesman today refused to be drawn on the White House criticism.
'I don't think you would expect me to get into discussions with other countries but I think we have been clear that we need to urgently find solutions that support the Belfast Good Friday Agreement and minimise disruption to communities in Northern Ireland, particularly to avoid disruption to critical supplies such as medicines,' he said.
'That is why we have been and continue to work closely with the EU to try to find pragmatic solutions that achieve those objectives.'
The President and his wife Jill left Washington on Wednesday morning and landed at Royal Air Force Mildenhall to address US Air Force personnel stationed in Britain. At the start of his speech he told the standing troops to sit by saying 'at ease', then said: 'I keep forgetting I am president'.
During his address, he said he would be meeting with Mr Putin to 'let him know what I want him to know'; told the crowd that 'global warming' is the biggest threat to the US; teared up as he paid tribute to his late veteran son Beau; and boasted that 'America is back'.
When Mr Biden meets the Prime Minister today at St Michael's Mount, a 17th-century castle on an island just off the coast of Cornwall, he is tipped to set up a new 'Atlantic Charter' modelled on the post-Second World War pact made by FDR and Winston Churchill, and will work to open up travel between the US and UK 'as soon as possible'.
But the US President has ordered his officials to issue a rare diplomatic rebuke to the British Government for its continued opposition to checks at Northern Irish ports.
Yael Lempert, charge d'affaires at the US Embassy in London, told Brexit Minister Lord Frost the UK's stance was imperilling the peace process. She had been ordered to issue the diplomatic rebuke, known as a demarche, a step rarely taken between allies, The Times said.
They are often issued alongside a summons for the country's ambassador to attend the Foreign Office.
Government minutes from June 3 reveal Lord Frost was told of President Biden's 'great concern' in a tense encounter in which Ms Lempert is said to have 'slowly and gravely read her instructions aloud'.
The President and his wife Jill left Washington on Wednesday morning and landed at Royal Air Force Mildenhall to address US Air Force personnel stationed in Britain
The row now seems certain to overshadow talks between Mr Johnson and Mr Biden today ahead of the G7 meeting of world leaders in Cornwall. Mr Biden arrived in the UK with huge fanfare last night.
She is said to have implied the UK had been 'inflaming the rhetoric' and asked if the Government would 'keep it cool'. She also warned the dispute between Britain and the EU was 'commanding the attention' of Mr Biden ahead of his meeting with the PM today.
The memo said the US 'strongly urged' Britain to come to a 'negotiated settlement' even if it meant 'unpopular compromises'.
But Ms Lempert, who is America's most senior diplomat in Britain, said that if the UK could accept demands to follow EU rules on agricultural standards, Mr Biden would ensure the matter 'wouldn't negatively affect the chances of reaching a US/UK free trade deal.'
A ban affecting goods including burgers and chicken nuggets is due to come into force at the end of this month when a grace period expires.
Tory MP Peter Bone told MailOnline that if Mr Biden does comment publicly he will be interfering in the 'internal affairs' of the UK.
'It isn't anything to do with President Biden. It would be very strange if we were to comment on a domestic issue relating to a part of the US. It is an internal matter.
'I would be very surprised if he says anything in public. And obviously what people say anonymously must be taken with not just a pinch of salt, a pot of salt.'
And long-standing Eurosceptic Tory John Redwood today said: 'If President Biden wishes to back a good outcome on the island of Ireland he needs to press the EU to respect the UK internal market and the views of the majority in Northern Ireland. It is the EU disrupting trade.'
But Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said: 'We've just seen an unprecedented rebuke from President Biden in relation to the negotiations in relation to Northern Ireland.
'And that comes on the back of months of chaos, of lack of preparedness and, frankly, the Government misleading the public.
'I've worked in Northern Ireland. I know what it means for those communities and the way the Government is going about this is undermining the peace process. But it's now also undermining our relationship with America. So we need to make progress on this.'
Mr Sefcovic warned that the EU's patience with the UK over its implementation of post-Brexit border rules in the Northen Ireland Protocol governing trade was 'wearing very, very thin'.
Speaking at a press conference in London after three-and-a-half hours of talks with Lord Frost, he claimed Brussels had shown 'enormous patience' with Britain.Mr Sefcovic said relations with the UK were 'at a crossroads' – and warned that Brussels was ready to launch retaliatory action if Mr Johnson extends the grace period.
'Of course, as you would understand, the fact that I mentioned that we are at a crossroads means that our patience really is wearing very, very thin, and therefore we have to assess all options we have at our disposal,' he added.
'I was talking about the legal action, I was talking about arbitration, and of course I'm talking about the cross-retaliation.'
Mr Sefcovic said the EU 'will not be shy' in launching retaliation. He declined to set out the exact measures Brussels was willing to take, but suggested it could include retaliatory tariffs and quotas on British exports or 'non-co-operation' in areas like financial services.
The PM had said that his Brexit deal would not require any additional checks on goods traded between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK. But Mr Sefcovic said proper implementation of the deal would require 'many checks'.
In a calculated barb, he suggested ministers may not have fully understood the consequences of the deal they were signing. 'When the agreement was being negotiated it might be that our British partners could not fully estimate the consequences of the Brexit they had chosen – what it would mean to leave the single market and customs union, how complex it would be for business and government,' he said.
Mr Sefcovic conceded that British meat products had been produced to the same standards as those in the EU for decades. But he said there was 'no guarantee' this would continue and claimed the import of sausages from the UK could cause 'public health' problems in the future. He said the EU had offered a deal which would solve '80 per cent of the problems'. This would involve the UK agreeing to align with EU standards on the relevant products – an idea the PM has ruled out. Mr Sefcovic said this could be on a 'temporary' basis, with the UK allowed to renegotiate if it strikes a major trade deal with the US.
Lord Frost insisted there is still time to reach an agreement before the current 'grace period' for chilled meats ends, but said the UK will consider 'all options' if it proves impossible.
A senior source later confirmed that includes the option of extending the grace period unilaterally.
'The PM has been pretty clear that he can't see a reason why we shouldn't be able to sell the British banger in Northern Ireland. The biosecurity risk is zero.'
EU officials say without an agreement by July 1, there should be no fresh meat that moves from the British mainland to the province.
At their arrival on Wednesday night, Joe and Jill Biden received a warm welcome at the base, garnering several rounds of applause. They spoke outdoors as the sun set behind them. Both Bidens wore face masks but took them off to speak.
President Biden also mentioned his late son Beau, a major in the Delaware Army National Guard. He teared up as he thanked military personnel the Royal Air Force Mildenhall for their service.
'I wish my major was here to thank you as well,' he said referencing his late son, who died of brain cancer in 2015. 'You're the best of our country,' he added.
He also outlined the goals of his trip and the message he wanted to give to world: 'The United States is back and the democracies of the world are standing together to face the toughest challenges.'
Biden said during his meetings with fellow leaders, he would focus on COVID, climate change, and on protecting themselves from 'the growing threat of ransomware attacks...[and] the autocrats who are letting it happen.'
After his G7 meeting, Biden will meet in Brussels with NATO and EU leaders, where the Russian and Chinese threats will top the agenda.
President Joe Biden waves as he stands next to U.S. Air Force personnel and their families stationed at RAF Mildenhall
After his remarks, Biden left the stage to shake hands with service members.
Before the president spoke, Jill Biden admonished him to focus when she addressed the troops.
'Joe pay attention,' the first lady told the president.
She had just told the service members to sit down. President Biden, standing behind her, turned around to see the troops positioned behind the stage.
That was when the first lady asked chided him to watch her as she addressed Air Force personnel at Royal Air Force Mildenhall.
In her brief remarks, the first lady thanked the troops for their service and touted her Joining Forces initiative - a group she formed with then-first lady Michelle Obama to support families of American troops.
'I hope that you know how special you are. And we are so grateful for your and your family's service,' she said.
Biden and his wife Jill, a university professor, touched down at RAF Mildenhall, Suffolk in Air Force One just after 7.30pm, kicking off the president's eight-day trip to Europe.
The UK stop also includes face-to-face meetings with the Queen and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
After speaking to troops, the Bidens head to Carbis Bay near St Ives, where the leaders of Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Japan and Canada will gather for three days to discuss the pandemic and climate change among other issues.
Biden is scheduled to meet with Johnson for face-to-face talks Thursday - the first time the two men will have met in person - before the G7 Summit formally gets underway on Friday.
When the summit ends on Sunday, the President and First Lady will meet the Queen at Windsor Castle.
Biden will then depart for Brussels where he will attend a NATO summit and a joint US-EU summit before then heading to Geneva for a bilateral showdown with Putin.
In an op-ed for the Washington Post, Biden said that the trip is about 'realising America's renewed commitment to our allies and partners' as he attempts to build bridges with Britain and the EU after some leaders including German Chancellor Angela Merkel clashed with his predecessor Donald Trump.
The Republican president engaged in a bitter trade row with the EU and slammed NATO members for failing to spend more on defense - sparking fears that he would pull the US out of the military alliance and embolden Russian activity in Ukraine and eastern Europe.
Trump also formally withdrew the US from the Iran nuclear deal and the Paris Agreement - both negotiated by Barack Obama. One of Biden's first acts as President was to rejoin the climate accord and reopen nuclear talks with the Iranian government, as he sought to reverse the actions of the previous administration.
The US President has ordered his officials to issue a rare diplomatic rebuke to the British Government for its continued opposition to checks at Northern Irish ports (pictured: Boris Johnson in St Austell, June 9)
President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden disembark from Air Force One as they arrive at RAF Mildenhall ahead of the G7 Summit
President Biden is kicking off an eight-day trip to Europe, first lady Jill Biden will be with him for the UK portion
Air Force One carrying U.S. President Joe Biden lands at RAF (Royal Air Force) Mildenhall as he arrives ahead of the G7 Summit, near Mildenhall, Suffolk
Photographers take pictures behind a fence of RAF (Royal Air Force) Mildenhall ahead of the arrival of U.S. President Joe Biden, near Mildenhall, Suffolk
Preparations remain ongoing ahead of the G7 summit in Carbis Bay later this week. A Royal Navy vessel is pictured off the coast of Cornwall on June 8
Prime Minister Boris Johnson pictured arriving at Newquay Airport ahead of the G7 summit, which begins on Friday
Boris Johnson and Grant Shapps view the LauncherOne at the Spaceport at Newquay Airport ahead of the G7 Summit
Police continue their checks in Carbis Bay, Cornwall as world leaders gather to discuss the pandemic and climate change
The White House has said that Biden will meet with Johnson to 'affirm the special relationship between our nations' - a term which the prime minister reportedly dislikes because it is 'too needy'.
Whitehall is understood to have viewed the President's decision to make the UK his first overseas destination as a major diplomatic victory for Johnson.
The Prime Minister has lavished praised on Biden since he won power in the election last year, in the hope of striking a new free trade deal with the US.
However, there are concerns that he and the President may not get along, after Democratic sources previously questioned whether Johnson was an 'ally'.
Johnson had sought close relations with Trump, causing Biden to call him a 'physical and emotional clone' of the controversial Republican president.
Johnson faced fierce domestic criticism over his relationship with Trump, but has defended the ties and has insisted that prime ministers should always have the 'best possible' ties with sitting US presidents.
There has also been speculation Johnson and Biden could struggle to work together because of the Prime Minister's past criticism of Barack Obama, in whose administration Biden served as vice president.
Biden is also expected to put pressure on the UK not to renege on the Northern Ireland Brexit Protocol in a bid to preserve the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. US concerns about the province's trade status could even derail efforts to strike an Anglo-US trade deal.
National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told the BBC: 'President Biden believes and has said that the Northern Ireland Protocol, as part of the agreement between the UK and the European Union, is critical to ensuring that the spirit, promise and future of the Good Friday Agreement is protected.
'That being said, of course the UK and EU need to work out the specifics and the modalities on that, need to find some way to proceed that works both for the EU and the UK. But whatever way they find to proceed must, at its core, fundamentally protect the gains of the Good Friday Agreement and not imperil that.
'And that is the message that President Biden will send when he is in Cornwall.'
However, there were positive signs in March of the 'special relationship' warming up after Biden's climate envoy John Kerry visited London for talks with Johnson. The positive trend continued in May when US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington has 'no closer partner' than the UK.
Biden will join others from the G7 group of leading economies in Carbis Bay on Friday, where Devon and Cornwall Police are expecting climate protests.
Johnson plans to use the summit to urge the members - also including Canada, Japan, France, Germany and Italy - to 'defeat' Covid-19 by helping to vaccinate the world by the end of next year.
The White House said in April when it confirmed the trip to Europe that Biden will 'highlight his commitment to restoring our alliances, revitalizing the Transatlantic relationship, and working in close cooperation with our allies and multilateral partners to address global challenges and better secure America's interests'.
During an official visit to the UK, Blinken said that the 'special relationship' is 'enduring', 'effective' and 'dynamic' as well as being 'close to the hearts of the American people'.
Speaking at a press conference in Downing Street alongside Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, Blinken said: 'It is also the 75th anniversary of Winston Churchill's famous speech at Westminster College in Missouri where he described the Special Relationship between the United Kingdom and the United States and how vital it is for our two countries and many others around the world.
'Three quarters of a century later, that Special Relationship is enduring, it is effective, it is dynamic and it is close to the hearts of the American people. The United States has no closer ally, no closer partner, than the United Kingdom and I am very glad for the chance to say that again here today.'
The President's security team for the Summit is reportedly so vast they will have to stay in more than 50 hired luxury camper vans because there is not enough accommodation.
The recreational vehicles have been delivered to St Mawgan airbase near Newquay, 20 miles from where the meeting of leaders takes place in the tiny Cornish resort of Carbis Bay at the weekend.
A 400-strong contingent of Secret Service agents and support staff will be at the summit, but with thousands of holidaymakers already in the area, almost every hotel and B&B in a 30-mile radius of the summit has been booked.
Meanwhile, video footage showed two Sea King and three V-22 Osprey helicopters soaring above Cornwall and Devon as they practiced the route the President will take from the airbase to Tregenna Castle Resort, St Ives, after Air Force One lands at RAF Mildenhall and then Newquay airport on Wednesday.
Some 1,000 police will be staying on a cruise liner docked in Falmouth harbour and others will stay in RVs currently parked up at the RAF airbase near Newquay.
Police officers and security stand by erimieter barriers erected in Carbis Bay, Cornwall, ahead of the G7 summit
The President is scheduled to meet Boris Johnson for face-to-face talks - the first time the two men will have met - before the summit formally gets underway on Friday. The PM pictured in Downing Street's garden at a reception for teachers
It comes after a long line of caravans clogged up the A30 on Monday as holidaymakers made their way to the southern-most point of England. One photograph shared on social media showed heavy traffic that had been 'crawling' for around 20 minutes near the Devon-Cornwall border.
Meanwhile for the summit, some 30 vehicles have been leased from a Somerset company called Empire RV, which usually supplies luxury vehicles for film shoots and Grand Prix events.
The US camper vans are so large that the company warns many can only be driven by one of their experienced staff and are not available for self-drive hire. The most luxurious ones - some the size of an articulated lorry - can sleep up to eight people and come equipped with satellite TV and other comforts.
The RV sare expected to be driven to the Tregenna Hotel in Carbis Bay where the president is due to stay during the three-day conference. The castle boasts 98 bedrooms and is the grandest hotel in the county, featuring a 72-acre estate and an 18-hole golf course.
The US motor homes have been rented for £2,500 each for a week by the US Embassy in London and include the 45ft long former RV used by Jensen Button when he was racing in Formula 1.
A spokesman for Bristol based Empire RV said they had set up a mini village at the St Mawgan airbase.
A helicopter, which is dubbed Marine One when the US president is onboard, practised landing on the golf course at the Tregenna Castle Resort - where President Biden and the other leaders will stay - on Monday.
Pilots familiarising the route they will take after Air Force One lands at Newquay Airport later this week have taken to the skies above Cornwall in recent days. Three US Marine Osprey aircraft have been seen over St Michael Mount and the Carbis Bay area.
The aircrafts' purpose is to fly White House staff during the President's trips abroad. They also transport Secret Service agents that follow Marine One in case the helicopter goes down.
Ospreys were seen over Haldon Hills near Exeter at 8pm on Monday, where it is thought they may have just left Exeter Airport. By 8.40pm the aircraft were spotted landing at Tregenna Castle Resort.
The helicopters were seen landing at Carlyon Bay, St Austell, at 9.45pm, before descending onto Tregenna Castle Resort at 10.15pm. The aircraft were brought to the UK on the US Air Force's Boeing C-17 Globemaster III.
They were offloaded at the Royal Navy airbase Culdrose, near Helston, on Sunday. The impressive US-military aircraft flew high over the steep sand dunes of Hayle beach, St Ives, at around 9.30pm on Monday.
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