LONDON — President Joe Biden trumpeted a “rock-solid” relationship with the UK when he met British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at his official residence and office at 10 Downing Street on Monday.
It was Biden’s first visit to No 10 as president and took place as he was heading to a NATO summit in Lithuania. Biden will also meet privately with King Charles III at Windsor Castle on Monday afternoon.
“It’s good to be back,” Biden joked as he was greeted by Sunak.
“We have a lot to talk about. I think we’re doing well. We’re moving forward in a positive way. But our relationship is rock solid,” he said.
The two leaders were due to discuss Russia’s war in Ukraine and this is their first meeting since the United States announced on Friday that it would send cluster munitions to Ukraine. Britain is one of 123 signatories to a convention that bans the weapon. The United States, Ukraine and Russia are not. Sunak said he “discourages” the use of the weapon.
Ahead of their meeting, the White House said the couple would seek to strengthen the close bond.
“I think you can think of this more as a continuation of a long-standing conversation than some sort of formal meeting,” White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters on Sunday as the President was flying from Delaware to London.
Biden is making his fifth official visit to the UK as president. It is his sixth meeting with Sunak since the British politician became Prime Minister last year. Sunak and Biden also met last month in Washington.
After Biden’s meeting with King Charles III at Windsor Castle, they will attend a meeting with business leaders and US climate envoy John Kerry where the White House says they will discuss climate change initiatives. clean energy and ways to mitigate the effects of climate change on developing countries adapt to the impacts of climate change.
Although the US president and the British monarch have spoken several times since Biden took office, including at a 2021 climate conference in Glasgow, Monday marks their first formal meeting since Charles’ coronation.
Biden did not attend the coronation. First Lady Jill Biden represented the First Family at the May ceremony at Westminster Abbey. The president and Charles spoke by phone ahead of the celebration, as Biden prepared to visit Northern Ireland.
Sullivan said on Sunday, as the president traveled from Delaware to London, it was an “incredibly warm” conversation. He said Biden, 80, knows Charles, 74, “quite well” and has “tremendous respect” for his leadership in addressing climate issues.
“And so the president approaches this with enormous goodwill – this relationship with enormous goodwill – and really sees this as an opportunity to do two things: one, deepen the personal bond, the personal relationship. And two, be able to harness their common interest in trying to drive climate progress and climate action,” Sullivan said.
Biden visited Windsor Castle on a previous occasion as president, just over two years ago, when he and his wife joined the late Queen Elizabeth II for tea and crumpets.
As the US President signed a book of condolences at the British Embassy in Washington on the Queen’s death, he fondly remembered the visit.
“When the queen took us to the castle for tea and – we were joking – crumpets – she kept offering me more; I kept eating whatever she put in front of me,” he said. he declares.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Biden says US has ‘rock-solid’ relationship with UK