Biden calls PM ‘Mr President’ at start of White House talks

Joe Biden and Rishi Sunak - Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters

Joe Biden and Rishi Sunak – Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters

Joe Biden called Rishi Sunak “Mr President” as they sat down for talks on the first visit by the Prime Minister to the White House.

The US President greeted Mr Sunak with the words “well, Mr President…”, before catching himself and joking “I promoted you there”.

Mr Biden added: “Prime Minister Churchill and Roosevelt met here a little over 70 years ago and they asserted to the strength of the partnership between Great Britain and the United States and the strength of the free world.”

He said there was still “truth to that suspicion”, citing cooperation on military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine and work done by the Aukus defensive alliance in the Indian Ocean as proof the special relationship remains in “great shape”.

In response, Mr Sunak said: “Our economies are seeing perhaps the biggest transformation since the Industrial Revolution, as new technologies provide incredible opportunities but also give our adversaries more tools for harm. The one thing I know won’t change, I’m confident won’t change, is the strength of our partnership, our friendship, and we will put our values front and centre, as we’ve always done, to deliver for the British and American people.”

Mr Biden’s gaffe came after the Government admitted it is not currently pursuing a trade deal with the US, with Mr Sunak insisting the “macroeconomic situation” had “evolved” since 2019 rather than representing a “broken promise”.

You can follow the latest updates below. 

05:11 PM

Table of Contents

Rishi Sunak: New technologies ‘give our adversaries more tools for harm’

Rishi Sunak told Joe Biden: “Mr President, thank you, thank you for the warm words but also for welcoming to the White House and for allowing me to stay in Blair House which I’ve got to say, the spare room in the flat in No 10 Downing Street doesn’t quite compare. So it’s been a real privilege.

“And as you said it’s daunting to think of the conversations our predecessors had in this room when they had to speak of wars they’d fought together, peace won together and incredible change in the lives of our citizens. And again, for the first time in over half a century, we face a war on the European continent and as we’ve done before the US and the UK have stood together to support Ukraine, and stand up for the values of democracy and freedom and make sure that they prevail as I know we will.

“But also I completely agree with what you said. Our economies are seeing perhaps the biggest transformation since the Industrial Revolution as new technologies provide incredible opportunities but also give our adversaries more tools for harm. The one thing I know won’t change, I’m confident won’t change, is the strength of our partnership, our friendship, and we will put our values front and centre, as we’ve always done, to deliver for the British and American people.”

In response, Mr Biden recalled how President Truman had also stayed at Blair House while his own flat was refurbished.

05:07 PM

Joe Biden welcomes ‘Mr President’ Rishi Sunak to White House

Joe Biden greeted Rishi Sunak with “well, Mr President…” before catching himself and adding: “Well, Mr Prime Minister, it’s great to have you back and, you know, in the past few months we’ve met each other in San Diego, and then we’ve met in Belfast and we’ve met in Hiroshima and now we’re here.

“And we’re going to solve all the problems in the world, right, in these next 20 minutes. Prime Minister Churchill and Roosevelt met here a little over 70 years ago and they asserted to the strength of the partnership between Great Britain and the United States and the strength of the free world.

“I still think there’s truth to that suspicion and together we’re providing economic humanitarian aid and security assistance to Ukraine in their fight against their brutal invasion by the Russians and we’ve worked out an arrangement with Aukus, with Australia, to make the Indian Ocean and that whole area safer and more secure. And we’ve built on the Good Friday Agreement 25 years, and we can talk about that a little bit.

“As Nato allies we’re working together to help provide collective defence of all of us and further I hope we can discuss today plans to further strengthen our economic relationship and the global economy is undergoing I think the greatest transformation that’s occurred since the Industrial Revolution. And something you know about, AI, is going to play a big part in that… We don’t have a closer ally than Great Britain and I’m delighted you’re here.”

05:00 PM

Rishi Sunak and Joe Biden sit down at White House

Joe Biden and Rishi Sunak - Susan Walsh/AP

Joe Biden and Rishi Sunak – Susan Walsh/AP

04:46 PM

Prime Minister: I’m banging the drum for Britain

“This morning I met with CEOs of America’s leading companies – whose investments create hundreds of thousands of British jobs – to set out why the UK is the best place in the world to do business,” Mr Sunak has written.

04:32 PM

Rishi Sunak arrives at White House

We are just getting live images of Rishi Sunak arriving at the White House.

Mr Sunak nodded at the waiting press pack before heading inside for bilateral talks with Joe Biden, the US President, ahead of their joint press conference later this evening.

04:32 PM

Biden: ‘Looking forward to it’

04:21 PM

Eurozone sinks into recession

The eurozone entered into a technical recession at the start of the year, according to revised data, as rising inflation hit consumer spending.

The economy shrank by 0.1pc for a second consecutive quarter in the first three months of 2023, figures from the EU’s statistic agency showed.

Eurostat revised down an earlier forecast that had predicted slight growth, after the continent’s largest economy Germany said last month it had fallen into recession.

It had previously estimated that the eurozone economy had expanded by 0.1pc in the first quarter of the year.

Chris Price and Adam Mawardi have more here

04:03 PM

Good afternoon

Dominic Penna here, The Telgeraph’s Political Reporter, guiding you through the rest of the day.

We can expect Rishi Sunak to complete his two-day visit to Washington DC this evening, as the day culminates with a press conference alongside Joe Biden at the White House.

Mr Sunak meets Mr Biden in the next few minutes at the Oval Office at the White House, before the press briefing which we are expecting to take place early this evening UK time.

03:21 PM

Lords protest over ‘disgraceful’ 13-hour debate on Sunak’s small boats bill

Peers have voiced outrage after being forced into a “disgraceful” 13-hour debate on Rishi Sunak’s small boats bill until after dawn.

Lords expressed frustration at having to carry out the line-by-line scrutiny of the legislation, with the committee debate not finishing until 4.16am this morning after starting at 3pm on Wednesday.

Critics argued it was “disappointing” such important matters, including the care of unaccompanied migrant children and detention of pregnant women, were being dealt with in such a way.

You can read the full story here.

02:55 PM

Boost for Sunak as tech chief hails Britain’s AI potential

US data giant Palantir has said Britain is a better place to develop artificial intelligence (AI) than the EU thanks to more “pragmatic” privacy laws, in a boost to Rishi Sunak.

Chief executive Alex Karp said a draconian data protection regime in Brussels meant “you’re going to be able to do things in the UK that you can’t do on the continent”.

Mr Karp’s comments come as the Prime Minister is set to meet President Joe Biden later today to pitch Britain as the home of a proposed new global AI regulator.

You can read the full story here.

02:29 PM

Pictured: Rishi Sunak attends a business roundtable event in Washington DC

Rishi Sunak and General Motors CEO Mary Barra attend a meeting at the Business Roundtable during his visit to Washington DC - Niall Carson/PA

Rishi Sunak and General Motors CEO Mary Barra attend a meeting at the Business Roundtable during his visit to Washington DC – Niall Carson/PA

02:18 PM

Starmer attacks Government over failure to strike trade deal with US

Sir Keir Starmer has criticised the Government for failing to deliver on a Tory manifesto pledge to secure a trade deal with the US.

Speaking to broadcasters in Scunthorpe ahead of Rishi Sunak’s meeting with Joe Biden later today, the Labour leader said: “In 2019, the Conservative Party had in their manifesto that they’d have a trade agreement with the US by 2022. So, it’s clear they’ve failed on that promise amongst many other promises.

“But that’s not the only failure. They’ve got no strategy, they’ve got no way of taking the country forward, and what we need is an industrial strategy, a plan for growth.

“This is what Labour is working on, which is how we take our country forward. So, you’ve got a Government at the moment that is not only failing on its promises but is also sort of sitting it out.”

01:33 PM

Rishi Sunak defends Tory failure to deliver on US trade deal promise

Rishi Sunak has defended the Government’s failure to strike a post-Brexit free trade deal with the US, something which was a Tory manifesto promise at the 2019 general election.

The manifesto said: “We aim to have 80 per cent of UK trade covered by free trade agreements within the next three years, starting with the USA, Australia, New Zealand and Japan.”

The Government has admitted it is not currently pursuing a trade deal with the US and Mr Sunak was asked during his visit to Washington DC today if he accepted it was a “broken promise”.

He said: “I think you have to look at the macroeconomic situation. It has evolved since then.”

He added: “Since then we’ve had a pandemic, we’ve had a war in Ukraine, and that has changed the macroeconomic situation.

“The right response to that is ensure that we’re focusing our engagement economically on the things that will make the most difference to the British people.”

Mr Sunak said the UK’s trade with the US had grown by 20 per cent last year.

01:21 PM

Labour donor Dale Vince joins Just Stop Oil protest in Westminster

Labour donor Dale Vince has joined a Just Stop Oil protest for the first time, slow-walking down Whitehall with protesters.

He told the PA Media news agency: “I’m here to support the incredibly brave people of Just Stop Oil. They put themselves and their liberty on the line.

“I support them in other ways, in the media and with donations, but I thought I would do more.”

Asked if he thought his presence would help Sir Keir Starmer, he said: “I can’t imagine it will make much difference to Keir Starmer, he’s his own man and so am I.”

He added: “I hope it doesn’t harm (Labour) but I can’t not speak out.”

Dale Vince joins Just Stop Oill activists during a protest by the environmental campaigners in central London - Martyn Wheatley/i-Images Picture Agency

Dale Vince joins Just Stop Oill activists during a protest by the environmental campaigners in central London – Martyn Wheatley/i-Images Picture Agency

12:58 PM

PM: ‘We are still establishing definitively the cause of the attack on the dam in Ukraine’

Rishi Sunak said the UK and its allies were still “establishing definitively” the origin of the attack which caused the destruction of a dam in southern Ukraine.

Speaking to broadcasters in Washington DC, the Prime Minister said: “We are still establishing definitively the cause of the attack on the dam in Ukraine. But I want people to know that we are playing our part to support the Ukrainians in their response.

“We have provided resources to the United Nations and the Red Cross in advance, anticipating incidents like this. Those resources are now being moved into the region to help support those families affected.

“This is an appalling act and hundreds of thousands of people are being affected by it. We will continue to provide support for the Ukraine.”

Mr Sunak also condemned Russia’s “illegal, unprovoked act of aggression” in invading Ukraine.

12:44 PM

Labour criticise Tories over record hospital waiting times

Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary, said that the “longer the Conservatives are in office, the longer patients wait” as he responded to today’s figures on hospital waiting times (see the post below at 09.49).

He said: “Rishi Sunak promised to cut waiting lists, but hundreds of thousands more patients are waiting for treatment today than when he became Prime Minister. The longer the Conservatives are in office, the longer patients wait.

“Labour has a plan to train the staff the NHS needs. We will double medical school places and train 10,000 more nurses and midwives a year, paid for by abolishing the non-dom tax status. Where’s the government’s plan?”

12:07 PM

Pictured: Sir Keir Starmer visits British Steel in North Lincolnshire

Keir Starmer visits the British Steel manufacturing site in North Lincolnshire on June 8 - Ian Forsyth/Getty Images Europe

Keir Starmer visits the British Steel manufacturing site in North Lincolnshire on June 8 – Ian Forsyth/Getty Images Europe

12:03 PM

Migrants housed on barges face ‘code of conduct’ and will be kicked out if they break rules

Migrants on barges will be subject to a Government-imposed code of conduct – and face eviction and even loss of public funds if they fail to abide by it and misbehave, The Telegraph can reveal.

The code is designed to prevent anti-social behaviour and will apply not only onboard but when migrants leave and travel into town for visits, a senior Home Office official has told residents in Portland, Dorset, the site for the first barge.

The official, speaking to residents via Zoom at a public meeting, said the asylum seekers would be free to come and go, just as they are allowed to do in asylum hotels, but would be “escorted” in and out of the secure port at Portland like holidaymakers “disembarking from a cruise ship”.

You can read the full story here.

11:20 AM

Sunak vows to ‘lead the way’ on AI regulation ahead of meeting with Biden

10:38 AM

Tories received £12.1m in donations to Labour’s £4.4m in first quarter of 2023

The Conservative Party registered almost three times as much as Labour in political donations in the first quarter of 2023 in a major boost to the Tories’ general election war chest.

Official data published this morning by the Electoral Commission showed the Tories registered £12.1million in donations in the first three months of the year.

That figure dwarfed the amount registered by Labour which was £4.4million.

The Liberal Democrats registered £1.3million while the SNP received just £4,000.

Total political donations registered by UK parties in the first quarter of 2023 stood at £18.4million.

09:52 AM

Number of people waiting more than 18 months for hospital treatment increases

Some 11,477 people are estimated to have been waiting more than 18 months to start routine hospital treatment at the end of April, NHS England said.

This is up from 10,737 at the end of March.

The Government and NHS England set the ambition of eliminating all waits of more than 18 months by April of this year, excluding exceptionally complex cases or patients who choose to wait longer.

Meanwhile, a total of 371,111 people in England had been waiting more than 52 weeks to start routine hospital treatment at the end of April. This is up from 359,798 at the end of March.

09:49 AM

Setback for Rishi Sunak as hospital waiting lists rise to new record high

The number of people in England waiting to start routine hospital treatment has risen to a new record high in a setback for Rishi Sunak.

An estimated 7.4 million people were waiting to start treatment at the end of April this year, up from 7.3 million in March, NHS England said.

It is the highest number since records began in August 2007.

Mr Sunak has made cutting waiting lists one of his main five priorities for 2023, pledging in January that “lists will fall and people will get the care they need more quickly”.

09:33 AM

Green Party co-leaders pay tribute to Caroline Lucas

The Green Party’s co-leaders have praised Caroline Lucas as a “force of nature” after the party’s sole MP announced her intention to stand down at the next general election (see the post below at 08.18).

Co-leader Carla Denyer said: “Caroline’s impact on politics in this country cannot be overstated: She truly is a force of nature and has been an extraordinary servant of the people of Brighton Pavilion as well as the Green Party. We are so proud of her achievements.

“Whether securing significant policy changes, shaping the conversation or modelling a different way of doing politics, Caroline demonstrates how essential it is to have green voices in UK politics.”

Joint leader Adrian Ramsay said: “Very few politicians can claim to have changed the course of the national debate in the way Caroline has.”

09:12 AM

Rishi Sunak enjoys baseball game in Washington as guest of honour

Rishi Sunak was the guest of honour at a special baseball match in Washington last night that celebrated the relationship between Britain and the United States.

The Prime Minister watched the Washington Nationals host the Arizona Diamondbacks on a warm evening at Nationals Park.

The theme of the match was “UK-US Friendship Day” and included a military flyover and performances by the Royal Marine Corps of Drums.

Rishi Sunak poses with Washington Nationals mascot "Screech" as he attends the Washington Nationals v Arizona Diamondbacks baseball game at Nationals Park during his visit to Washington DC in the US - Kevin Lamarque/PA

Rishi Sunak poses with Washington Nationals mascot “Screech” as he attends the Washington Nationals v Arizona Diamondbacks baseball game at Nationals Park during his visit to Washington DC in the US – Kevin Lamarque/PA

Mr Sunak was joined by Stuart Taylor, the chief executive of the Allied Forces Foundation, as they observed God Save the King and the Star Spangled Banner.

The PM opted against throwing the first pitch – a ceremonial role usually granted to VIPs and celebrities.

You can read the full story here.

08:49 AM

Britain will take world lead on AI threat, Sunak to tell Joe Biden

Britain will take the lead in tackling the threat posed by artificial intelligence, Rishi Sunak will tell Joe Biden today, writes Daniel Martin, The Telegraph’s deputy political editor in Washington DC.

Mr Sunak is set to meet the US President in the Oval Office on his first visit to the White House as Prime Minister.

He will announce that Britain will host a major summit on the risk posed by AI and is expected to push for London to be the location for a new global AI regulator, modelled on the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Speaking ahead of today’s meeting, the Prime Minister said: “This mid-size country happens to be a global leader in AI.”

You can read the full story here.

08:33 AM

Day two of Rishi Sunak’s visit to Washington DC

Rishi Sunak is due to complete his two-day visit to Washington DC today, with a day packed with meetings and culminating with a press conference alongside Joe Biden at the White House.

We are expecting to hear from the Prime Minister at lunchtime UK time as he speaks to broadcasters just before attending a roundtable with US business leaders.

Mr Sunak is then due to meet Mr Biden in the Oval Office at the White House for formal talks in the late afternoon, UK time, before the press conference which we are expecting to take place early this evening.

Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister, is pictured attending a baseball game in Washington last night - Kevin Lamarque/PA

Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister, is pictured attending a baseball game in Washington last night – Kevin Lamarque/PA

08:23 AM

Labour leader claims Tories have left UK steel industry in ‘cycle of crisis and bailout’

Sir Keir Starmer has claimed the Tories have left the UK steel industry in a “cycle of crisis and bailout” as he promised Labour backing for the sector.

The Labour leader is due to visit the British Steel site in North Lincolnshire this morning where he is expected to commit a Labour government to invest in the steel industry as part of its broader green plans.

Sir Keir said a Labour government would “back it, secure it, and grow it, creating high paying, productive jobs in communities all over the country, for generations”.

He said ahead of the visit: “In the last 13 years the Tories’ complacency and inaction has led to a self-defeating cycle of crisis and bailout, failing workers, industry and the taxpayer.

“Securing investment in steel will create a virtuous circle of cheaper infrastructure, jobs, thriving industry, and economic growth. Labour will get on with it.”

08:18 AM

Caroline Lucas standing down at next general election

Caroline Lucas, the Green Party’s first and only MP, has declared she will not stand at the next general election as her constituency work is stopping her from tackling climate change.

Ms Lucas, who has represented Brighton Pavilion since 2010, said local commitments meant she was “ironically” unable to devote more attention to “accelerating crises” facing climate and nature.

In a letter to constituents, obtained by The Argus newspaper, Ms Lucas said she was looking forward to having more time to explore ways to make a “liveable future a reality.”

08:16 AM

Starmer’s popularity in Scotland sinks into negative territory for first time

Sir Keir Starmer’s popularity among Scottish voters has taken a hit, sinking into negative territory for the first time, according to a new poll.

A Redfield & Wilton Strategies survey conducted between June 3-5 found more people in Scotland now disapproved of Sir Keir’s performance as Labour leader than approved.

The latest poll found 32 per cent of people disapproved, up by four points when compared to the previous poll conducted between April 30 and May 2, and 29 per cent approved, down by one point.

That gave the Labour leader an overall approval rating of minus three. It is the first time Sir Keir has been in negative territory in the company’s Scottish tracker poll.

Poll numbers suggest Sir Keir’s popularity north of the border has been steadily falling in recent months. His approval rating was plus 11 last November, falling to plus 10 in March, plus eight in April and then to plus two in May.

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