Joe Biden tried to destroy his “anti-British” reputation today when he said relations with Rishi Sunak were “rock solid” – and he even recalled flying the Union Jack in his official limousine.
During talks in the Downing Street garden on the eve of a tight NATO summit in Lithuania, the US told the prime minister he could not meet a “closer friend and greater ally.”
The British flag was clearly visible on the US President’s ‘Beast’ as it turned onto the famous street – in stark contrast to its absence when he visited Northern Ireland earlier this year.
Mr Biden and Mr Sunak greeted each other with a warm handshake on the steps before starting their talks.
But frustration is mounting that, although it will be their fifth meeting in as many months, Mr Biden is largely ignoring the UK’s views.
More focal points have emerged in recent days, with Biden pouring cold water on the idea of Ukraine joining NATO soon.
He has also put Mr Sunak in an awkward position by declaring that the US will supply Kiev with cluster bombs – weapons the UK is determined to shun.
And the pair could have awkward discussions over NATO’s next head, after Biden seemingly blocked Defense Secretary Ben Wallace’s ambitions and backed the EU’s Ursula von der Leyen for the top job.
Tory MP David Jones told MailOnline involvement was useless if there was no “positive response”. “The prime minister should remind him which country is America’s strongest ally,” he added.
Speaking in the garden of Downing Street on the eve of a cracking NATO summit in Lithuania, Joe Biden told the prime minister that the special relationship is ‘rock solid’
Joe Biden walked to the steps of the famous building and was greeted with a warm handshake by Rishi Sunak
The Union Jack was clearly visible on the US President’s ‘Beast’ as it turned into Downing Street – in stark contrast to its absence when he visited Northern Ireland earlier this year
As the leaders sat down on rattan furniture in the Downing Street garden, Biden told Sunak he “could not meet a closer friend and greater ally.”
“Our relationship is rock solid,” he said.
Mr Sunak said the pair would consider ‘how can we strengthen our cooperation, joint economic security for the benefit of our citizens’.
He added: “We stand as two of the strongest allies in that alliance and I know we want to do everything we can to strengthen Euro-Atlantic security.”
Biden would push for the current president of the European Commission to take charge of the military alliance.
But MPs complained that he is “ad ***” after he was apparently angry that Britain did not get its approval to train Ukrainian pilots for F-16 fighter jets.
Conservatives have warned that Ms von der Leyen was the ‘worst ever’ German defense minister before she became committee chair. During her watch, Berlin troops notoriously trained with broomsticks on NATO exercises because they didn’t have enough rifles.
Mr Biden told CNN in an interview broadcast as he began his journey that Ukraine was not “ready for membership” of NATO.
“I don’t think there is a consensus within NATO on whether or not to include Ukraine in the NATO family right now, in the middle of a war,” he said.
He noted that NATO members are using every inch of each other’s territory as war rages in Ukraine.
“When the war is going on, we are all at war,” he said.
His tone seemed much more sombre than that of the UK, which has pushed for a positive message about Ukraine’s prospects of joining NATO.
Former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith told The Telegraph: “In these circumstances where Ukraine is literally fighting a life and death battle with Russia, it would be better to give them a positive feeling that membership will become a reality at some point in instead of emphasizing the negative that they are not ready.’
Biden said he has made the “very difficult decision” to deliver cluster bombs as Kiev’s armed forces are running low on ammunition in their fight against the Russian invasion.
But the Prime Minister spoke out to underline that the UK has signed a convention banning the production or use of weapons that release large numbers of small explosives from a rocket or artillery shell.
Yesterday, Treasury Secretary Victoria Atkins insisted in an interview on Sky News: “We are very pleased that President Biden is coming this week. It will be the fifth time the Prime Minister [and] have met the president in the past five months. And so the relationship the special relationship is still very strong and safe.’
But she continued: “With regard to cluster bombs, we, the UK, have signed the convention that prohibits their use and discourages their use. And of course we are adhering to that convention and trying to do what we can to support Ukraine.”
The Beast had the Stars and Stripes and the presidential standard on his hood — but no Union Jack — during Biden’s brief visit to Northern Ireland in April
After Mr Biden – who often boasts of his Irish heritage – moved to the Republic, the country’s flag was proudly displayed
Former national security adviser Lord Ricketts said other Western countries are also “very uncomfortable” with the US position on cluster bombs.
He told Sky News: ‘All of us except the Americans have signed up to the convention, which means we don’t manufacture, store or use these weapons. I mean, they’re random weapons, of course.” He admitted that Ukraine did not have the precision munitions or fighter jets the West was asking for, and that he sees cluster bombs as a “potential game-changer” in its counter-offensive against President Putin’s army.
“This admittedly hideous weapon is designed to be used against dug-in entrenched troops. And as I said, if they can’t break into this fight that’s going on on their territory, these are weapons for use on their territory, the risk is that it will continue.
“So it’s a tough choice for the kind that countries have to make in wartime. It makes me uncomfortable. Yes, I wish it wasn’t done, but I think we can understand why they do it.’