Elections in America: unusual quirk of Boris Johnson’s congratulations tweet to Joe Biden

Enthusiastic political observers on Tuesday noted an unusual feature in a tweet from British Prime Minister Boris Johnson congratulating US President-elect Joe Biden on his election victory: the specter of an alternative message congratulating Donald Trump.

The words “Trump” and “second term” could be seen vaguely in the background of the message, which was sent on Saturday from the prime minister’s Twitter account shortly after Biden was declared the winner of the US presidential election.

The British government blamed a technical failure.

“As expected, two statements were prepared in advance for the outcome of this highly contested election,” the government said. “A technical error meant that parts of the alternate message were embedded in the background of the graphic.”

Johnson had a warm relationship with Trump, a Brexit supporter, despite the two leaders’ differences on important issues like climate change and the Iran nuclear deal.

Johnson’s message Saturday read: “Congratulations to Joe Biden on his election as President of the United States and to Kamala Harris on his historic achievement. The United States is our most important ally and I look forward to working closely on our priorities, from the climate change to trade and security. “

Johnson wasn’t the only world leader to slip up on Twitter. Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin tweeted on Tuesday that he had “just finished a very positive call” with Biden, then quickly deleted the message.

The Irish government said Martin had not yet spoken to Biden and that the tweet had been sent in error.

Biden is proud of his Irish roots and has relatives in the country. In the Irish parliament, Martin said the president-elect was “the most Irish of Irish presidents since John F. Kennedy.” – AP