Will Joe Biden restrict Boris Johnson’s Brexit plans? | Political news

Boris Johnson and Joe Biden are not, at first glance, easy bedmates.

While Donald Trump was a Brexi-support for, Boris johnson Slapping the president, the man who is about to take office has made it very clear that he is not a fan of the current occupant of Number 10 or the politics that propelled him to victory in 2020.

A self proclaimed Irish American, president-elect Biden it is anti-Brexit and has had a low opinion of the UK government’s attempts to nullify parts of the Withdrawal Agreement related to Northern Ireland.

It creates a very different backdrop for trade talks between the UK and the EU that both sides insist on the need to conclude – trade deal or no trade deal – in the coming days.

But will the way negotiations unfold in the final stages change?

The EU side thinks so. A diplomatic source told me last week that a Biden victory will “put pressure” on the UK, as the prospect of a UK-US trade deal fades further from view as normal service between Washington and the United States resumes. Brussels.

As for the UK side, sources in Number 10 and the Foreign Office have struggled in recent days to insist that the head of the White House is not a consideration in the negotiations.

As one insider told me this week: “For those in the EU who think that Biden’s result changes the point of view of Number 10, they will not think twice. We are very clear that we have to secure a deal with which we can live at home and on board “.

Or to put it in the words of another high-ranking figure familiar with the negotiating team: “To David Frost [lead negotiator], Oliver Lewis [policy adviser] and Dominic Cummings [chief adviser] Leaving the EU means regaining sovereignty. It’s not about the United States telling them what they want us to do, so I don’t think it will change the approach. “

And so far it absolutely has not.

Take the legislation that nullifies part of the Brexit deal in Northern Ireland, the UK government is moving forward with that legislation in the face of opposition from Dublin, Brussels, the House of Lords and now Washington.

The president-elect has made no secret of his opposition to the bill, while Democrats have been pressuring the British government to withdraw contentious clauses from the bill citing concerns that it could undermine the Good Friday Agreement (a charge that the government of the United Kingdom strongly rejects).

Democrats have made it clear that there will be no trade deal between the United States and the United Kingdom if Johnson goes ahead with the plan.

But the UK government is resisting so far.

It intends to reinsert the clauses rejected by the House of Lords in the bill and may even keep these clauses in the Internal Market Bill in the event of a Brexit deal with the EU as an “absolute rollback”, Despite Biden’s team, the European Parliament and Dublin have deep misgivings.

And beyond Brexit, there are other personal political obstacles to overcome in the coming weeks and months between these two men.

The couple have yet to meet, but first impressions have not been positive.

Biden labeled Johnson “a physical and emotional clone of Donald Trump” after the 2019 general election.

There have also been reports that Biden’s camp has not forgotten Johnson’s suggestion in 2016 that President Obama may have “an ancient dislike for the British Empire” because of his “part Kenyan heritage.”

In fact, when Johnson tweeted congratulations to Biden over the weekend, President Obama’s former press spokesman Tommy Vieto said: “This shape shift weighs. We will never forget his racist comments about Obama and his slavish devotion to Trump.” .

While insiders in the government privately admit that the politics of this relationship could be uneven at first, when it comes to politics, a Biden White House is a better outcome for the UK than another four years under Trump.

“The vast majority of [us in government] I would have preferred the result we got, “one of Johnson’s team members described it.

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On security and intelligence, climate change, and support for multilateral institutions like the World Health Organization and NATO, the Biden administration is more aligned with Johnson’s.

And it’s the common ground that the prime minister’s team was eager to highlight after the two men, who have never met, had his first phone call on Tuesday night.

In reading the call, Downing Street highlighted “shared priorities, from addressing climate change to promoting democracy to better rebuilding from the coronavirus pandemic.”

The prime minister invited the president-elect to attend the COP26 climate change summit that the UK is hosting in Glasgow next year.

Brexit was not mentioned in the 10th reading, although number 10 confirmed after the call that the two men spoke about the “importance of implementing Brexit in such a way as to respect the Good Friday Agreement.”

Meanwhile, Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin was more explicit, tweeting that the president-elect had “underscored his commitment to the Good Friday Agreement” in his phone conversation.

So was President-elect Biden, who also used the reading of his phone call to Mr. Johnson to “reaffirm his support for the Good Friday Agreement.”

What does all this add up to? Several high-level government sources have told me that the UK government’s Brexit strategy remains the same, but some high-level politicians also believe that what could well change is the momentum in these last days of negotiations in the context of a more stable world order.

One tells me that they believe that Biden’s victory makes a deal between the EU and the UK “more likely”, while another says that they believe a deal is now “more workable” as both sides adapt to a more predictable America and the “distraction” of a Trump White House and the US trade deal is lost from sight.

And there is also a broader point to all of this as Johnson builds his vision of post-Brexit global Britain.

Success in overcoming climate change requires the help of our closest ally. It is in the UK’s own interest to be on good terms with the new team in the White House.

The cleanest way to do this is to reach an agreement with Europe, and the fact that Michel Barnier is now in London and Mr Frost is due to go to Brussels towards the end of the week gives reason for cautious optimism that the two parties could reach a compromise. .

Securing a deal would be beneficial to a prime minister who promised a “ready-for-the-oven” Brexit and is now grappling with a very different White House.

But it also has to work for your national audience, which also requires some movement from the EU and time is quickly running out.