Boris and Biden: A diplomatic odd couple faces pressure to define the US-UK relationship

Biden planned on pressing Johnson on Northern Ireland during their first face-to-face meeting on Thursday, according to senior administration officials. It’s an issue he feels very strongly about, officials said. He has watched with trepidation as Brexit has caused new questions about the durability of the Good Friday Agreement, which ended the violent conflict in Northern Ireland by bringing unionists and Irish republicans into a power-sharing government, and peace in the region.

But the President didn’t plan to adopt a confrontational tone with Johnson on the Northern Ireland issue during their meeting Thursday, a senior administration official said, instead intending to raise it as a topic of deep personal interest that he wants to see resolved.

“The United States is not in those negotiations and not seeking to be in those negotiations,” the official said.

“It will not be confrontational or adversarial,” the official said of Biden’s plans. “He didn’t come here to give a lecture. He came merely to communicate what he believes, very, very deeply about peace in Northern Ireland.”

Biden has raised the issue with Johnson in telephone calls ahead of the summit, and diplomats have discussed the matter with British counterparts in the lead-up to the two leaders’ bilateral talks. But officials denied a report in British newspaper The Times that American diplomats held heated conversations with UK officials on the matter ahead of the summit, including issuing a formal reprimand, saying the discussions on the matter have not been “heightened.”

“I think to me the defining question is how both sides use the next three and a half years, and if it’s sort of a transformative period, or if it’s more of a return to the status quo pre-Trump,” said Thomas Wright, the director of the Center on the United States and Europe at the Brookings Institution. “I don’t think we’re going to get an answer to that at this summit, but I think that’s sort of the defining choice that’s out there.”

Ideological differences

Biden and Johnson’s relationship will no doubt be one to watch throughout the President’s swing through Europe as he looks to reassure US allies that America will once again be conventional and reliable on the world stage.

National security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Wednesday that Biden planned to bring up Northern Ireland during his meeting with Johnson, but told reporters his comments would be reserved to making “statements of principle.”

“He’s not issuing threats or ultimatums. He’s going to simply convey his deep-seated belief that we need to stand behind and protect this protocol,” Sullivan said.

The two men also hold different views on immigration and foreign aid, which Johnson has opted to slash.

Some of the differences are more visceral.

Charles Kupchan, a former senior director for European affairs at the White House National Security Council during the Obama administration, told CNN much of the discussion between Johnson and Biden in front of cameras is expected to be cordial.

“Biden is going to Europe as a rock star of sorts. Europeans are delighted that he’s in and Trump is out. And as a consequence, I think this will be a week of smiles and back slapping and good atmospherics. So I don’t expect to see any differences between Biden and Johnson emerge in public-facing events,” Kuphan, now a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, said.

A ‘special relationship’

The so-called “special relationship” between the heads of the US and the UK, one of America’s strongest allies, has played a key role in the countries’ public diplomacy. The term was coined by Prime Minister Winston Churchill after World War II to describe the UK-US relationship, and it’s often used to illustrate the warm personal dynamic between leaders of the two countries.

But as the UK tries to forge its own path through Brexit, Johnson has expressed his distaste for the term publicly and, reportedly, with the President.

But the White House and senior-level staff have continued to use the term following The Atlantic’s report, including in press briefings.

A recent schedule sent to the press also described the upcoming bilateral as an effort “to affirm the enduring strength of the special relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom.”

Downing Street has not confirmed that the Prime Minister made the comment on the call with Biden, but reiterated that Johnson “is on the record previously saying he prefers not to use the phrase, but that in no way detracts from the importance with which we regard our relationship with the US, our closest ally.”

Interactions between two leaders during their meeting could set the tone for the relationship’s future, said Leslie Vinjamuri, the director of the US and the Americas program at Chatham House, an independent policy institute.

“This is an opportunity for Johnson and Biden to kind of show a different face than they’ve showed in the past through their exchanges. And it’s the first one, so it matters a lot,” Vinjamuri said.

“You know that … first impression for the public, I think, is really going to be so significant in terms of trying to move past what hasn’t been the best for years,” she added.

Points of agreement

Despite the frequent comparisons to Trump, Johnson sometimes kept the former President at arm’s length.

Additionally, Biden and Johnson share common victories on climate change and vaccine distribution.

Johnson and Biden are both expected to push to make progress with other leaders on climate. The two men worked together when Biden hosted a virtual climate summit, which was meant to act as a precursor to Johnson’s climate event, COP26, set for the fall.

Biden has underscored that strengthening American alliances will be an overarching theme of his Europe trip. And Sullivan told reporters that the trip at its core will “advance the fundamental thrust of Joe Biden’s foreign policy, to rally the world’s democracies to tackle the great challenges of our time.”

During their meeting, the President and the prime minister are expected to sign onto a range of agreements.

The new Atlantic Charter that Biden and Johnson will sign on Thursday is meant to reflect the shifting threats facing the world eighty years after the original document was signed following World War II.

“It’s been 80 years since the last one, it’s about time that it gets refreshed,” a senior administration official said ahead of the signing.

“The original really outlined what the post-war world order could and should look like, this new charter will make clear what the coming decades of the 21st century can and should look like,” the official said.

Officials said the document was not designed to presage a new Cold War, as the original Atlantic Charter ended up doing.

Sullivan said Wednesday the US has established two working groups of public health experts — one with the United Kingdom and one with the European Union.

“The point of these working groups is to share data and set out both milestones and criteria to enable a reopening of travel between our two countries as swiftly as possible, consistent with public health guidance,” Sullivan told reporters aboard Air Force One.

In addition, Biden and Johnson are expected to agree to pursue a bilateral technology agreement that will be signed next year, according to a source familiar with the matter.

This story has been updated with additional developments.