Freddy Gray Freddy Gray

Boris, Biden and the orange elephant in the room

issue 12 June 2021

Donald who? As Boris Johnson meets Joe Biden in Cornwall this week, the Prime Minister will hope that the President doesn’t dwell on his efforts to woo the last occupant of the Oval Office. Boris’s dalliance with Donald Trump is a bit like his affair with Jennifer Arcuri — an embarrassing fling with a rotund, brash American conspiracy theorist, something he’d rather the world forgot. He’s moved on and so should we.

Boris wouldn’t, for instance, want Biden to be reminded of the time in November 2017 when, as foreign secretary, he went on Fox News to say of Trump: ‘What you’ve got to realise is that the American President is just one of the huge, great global brands… He is penetrating corners of the global consciousness that I think few other presidents have ever done.’ Slurp.

The good news for ‘global Britain’ is that Biden doesn’t remember much. This week’s G7 meeting is the Commander-in-Chief’s first overseas trip.

Comments

Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months

Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.

Already a subscriber? Log in