Joe Biden and the weaponisation of Ireland

Joe Biden loves Ireland. He wears his Irish heritage proudly. ‘The BBC? I’m Irish’, he quipped when Nick Bryant asked him if he had a quick word for the Beeb. Which is all very nice. It’s good when people take pride in their heritage, even if it does come off as a bit ‘Oirish’ when Irish-American politicians do it. Expect to see President Biden in a poky pub in Ireland sipping on a pint of the (non-alcoholic) black stuff in front of the world’s media within the year. ‘It’s grand!’, he’ll probably say. Everyone will cheer; I’ll cringe.

But for all the harmless craic of powerful Americans being nice to the plucky Emerald Isle, I can’t help worrying about Biden’s much-professed Irishness. I have a feeling he’s going to use Ireland as a weapon against Brexit Britain. He’s going to cite ‘Irish concerns’ as a reason Britain should soften Brexit and fall in line with the EU’s view of how things should work after the transition period.