LONDON (UK) – Britain’s Boris Johnson congratulated Joe Biden on winning the US presidential election on Saturday. He sent across his best wishes, despite chances that his victory pose problems for the prime minister because of Biden’s vocal concerns over his Brexit policy.
Johnson, dubbed “Britain Trump” by the incumbent Donald Trump, has never met Biden.
Johnson said in a statement, “Congratulations to Joe Biden on his election as President of the United States and to Kamala Harris on her historic achievement.”
“The US is our most important ally and I look forward to working closely together on our shared priorities, from climate change to trade and security.”
However, Biden’s election could pose an immediate difficulty for Johnson.
Biden has warned that the United Kingdom must honour Northern Ireland’s 1998 peace agreement as it is pulling out from the bloc or there can be no separate US trade deal.
That message came in the wake of Johnson putting forward a legislation that would break the Northern Ireland protocol of the Brexit divorce treaty.
He argues the law is needed to uphold the terms of the Good Friday agreement.
Johnson was accused of insulting Barack Obama, under whom Biden was vice-president, in a 2016 newspaper article.
He suggested a bust of British wartime leader Winston Churchill had been moved from the Oval Office because of the “part-Kenyan president’s ancestral dislike of the British Empire”.
British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said, “We’re looking forward to working with the new administration on all of our shared interests, from tackling COVID-19 to counter-terrorism, and collaborating closely through our presidencies of COP26 and the G7 next year.”