US and UK: rock solid relations
Joe Biden hailed the “rock-solid” relations between Washington and London during his whistle stop trip to Britain ahead of this week’s NATO summit in Lithuania.
This morning, Biden met with Rishi Sunak on his first trip to Number 10 as US president before hopping in the Windsor-bound Beast to hold his first meeting with King Charles since he ascended the throne.
Over tea in the Downing Street garden, Sunak, who held bilateral talks with Biden at the White House less than a month ago, said it was “great to carry on our conversation.”
After a rocky few years, the so-called special relationship seems to have stabilised under Sunak – in large part due to US approval of the PM’s efforts to resolve Brexit-induced Northern Ireland tensions through his Windsor Agreement.
As the two biggest donors to Ukraine’s war efforts, war in Europe has also bought the allies closer together.
That said, defence will have proved a sticking point this morning.
Biden’s decision on Friday to supply Kyiv with cluster ammunitions has opened a rift among NATO countries ahead of tomorrow’s summit. These weapons – in large part controversial because of their dud rate – have been banned by over 100 countries, including Britain, because of the danger they pose to civilian lives, even long after a conflict has ended. Unexploded bomblets can lie the ground for many years before indiscriminately detonating.
The US, as well as Russia and Ukraine, has not signed the Convention on Cluster Munitions – a treaty which bans their production, transfer and storage.
The Biden administration has defended Friday’s decision by stressing that the US cluster bombs have a dud rate of less than 2.5% compared to Russia’s dud rate of between 30-40%.
According to Number 10’s spokesperson, the cluster bomb controversy was discussed today, although the statement released following Biden and Sunak’s meeting was a diplomatic one – certainly not an endorsement but not exactly a condemnation either.
The “difficult choice” to supply these munitions was “forced on the US by Russia’s war of aggression”, said the spokesperson, before reiterating that Britain is a signatory to the 2008 convention that prohibits their use.
This is almost certainly not the last time Biden will be pressed on cluster bombs this week – though it was for the day, as the President rushed off to Windsor after barely an hour.
Biden was welcomed to the Castle by a group of Welsh Guards performing the US national anthem to discuss the Monarch’s all time favourite topic: the climate.
John Kerry, Biden’s special climate envoy, was also present and made a point of praising the King’s decades-long years of campaigning on the environment. Charles was indeed an early adopter of green causes, giving a speech warning of the dangerous effects of oil, plastic and air pollution when he was just 21.
Today’s talks between the King and US leader focussed on climate financing, specifically ways to raise funds to help poorer countries transition to renewable energy.
Much like with the PM, the meeting with the monarch was short but sweet, with Biden boarding an Air Force One to Lithuania by mid-afternoon. The conversations he shared over cups of tea with both men will have been light relief in comparison to the ticker talks due to start at the Vilnius summit tomorrow.
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