On the one hand, Thursday's inaugural meeting between British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and President Biden went better than many in Britain expected, Politico London reports. Biden and Johnson "appeared to genuinely get on well, perhaps better than some on the British side had imagined," and Johnson's office was also "breathing a big sigh of relief" that Biden and his team "chose to — so far — steer clear of a bust-up over Brexit and Northern Ireland."
On the other hand, Biden reaffirmed the "special relationship" between Britain and the U.S. after their bilateral meeting, using a phase Johnson finds "needy and weak," Tom McTague reports in The Atlantic. Biden told reporters, "We affirmed the special relationship — that is not said lightly — the special relationship between our people and renewed our commitment to defending the enduring democratic values that both our nations share," and then tweeted out a condensed version.
BBC political editor Laura Kuenssberg asked Johnson which adjective he would like better than "special," and Johnson had some ideas. "It's a relationship, you can call it the deep and meaningful relationship, the indestructible relationship," he said, in an interview published Friday morning. "It's a relationship that has endured for a very long time, and has been an important part of peace and prosperity both in Europe and around the world."
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
"If Johnson somehow gets Biden to say the words 'indestructible relationship' this weekend then things really will have gone better than expected," Politico suggests. And if Biden uses "deep and meaningful relationship," it's probably best if he's talking about his marriage.
-
Political cartoons for November 29Cartoons Saturday's political cartoons include Kash Patel's travel perks, believing in Congress, and more
-
Nigel Farage: was he a teenage racist?Talking Point Farage’s denials have been ‘slippery’, but should claims from Reform leader’s schooldays be on the news agenda?
-
Pushing for peace: is Trump appeasing Moscow?In Depth European leaders succeeded in bringing themselves in from the cold and softening Moscow’s terms, but Kyiv still faces an unenviable choice
-
Memo signals Trump review of 233k refugeesSpeed Read The memo also ordered all green card applications for the refugees to be halted
-
Judge halts Trump’s DC Guard deploymentSpeed Read The Trump administration has ‘infringed upon the District’s right to govern itself,’ the judge ruled
-
Trump accuses Democrats of sedition meriting ‘death’Speed Read The president called for Democratic lawmakers to be arrested for urging the military to refuse illegal orders
-
Court strikes down Texas GOP gerrymanderSpeed Read The Texas congressional map ordered by Trump is likely an illegal racial gerrymander, the court ruled
-
Trump defends Saudi prince, shrugs off Khashoggi murderSpeed Read The president rebuked an ABC News reporter for asking Mohammed bin Salman about the death of a Washington Post journalist at the Saudi Consulate in 2018
-
Congress passes bill to force release of Epstein filesSpeed Read The Justice Department will release all files from its Jeffrey Epstein sex-trafficking investigation
-
Trump says he will sell F-35 jets to Saudi ArabiaSpeed Read The president plans to make several deals with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman this week
-
Judge blasts ‘profound’ errors in Comey caseSpeed Read ‘Government misconduct’ may necessitate dismissing the charges against the former FBI director altogether
