UK woos Biden camp, drops support for Trump

Johnson's relationship with Biden has been frosty

Oct 11, 2020

Sensing that Donald Trump may lose the 2020 presidential election, U.K. Prime Minister, Boris Johnson‘s government has told ministers to cozy up to the Biden campaign, according to the Sunday Times UK.

“They’re writing off Trump in No. 10 (the prime minister’s official residency) now,” a senior Conservative Party aide told the newspaper.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson during a meeting with President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, to sign a strategic partnership deal with the president in the face of Russia’s ‘destabilising behaviour’ towards the country, at Downing Street on October 8, 2020 in London, England. (Photo by Aaron Chown – WPA Pool/Getty Images)

The paper said that Johnson and his team came to that conclusion after realizing that Biden is developing a commanding lead over Trump in the polls.

PM Johnson has been warned by staffers of the “triple whammy” of the House, Senate, and the White House all gaining Democratic control after the Nov. 3 U.S. elections. Last month, British data modelers had reportedly given Biden a 70% chance of winning, but now their data suggests an 85% chance.

Although Johnson clashed with Trump on several issues, the two leaders are friendly and considered close allies.

Johnson’s relationship with Biden, however, has been frosty, and Biden has indicated that if he wins the presidency, he may prioritize a trade deal with the EU, rather than one between the U.K. and U.S.

Ex UK ambassador to US Lord Darroch tells me on @Channel4News a #Biden win could cause difficulties for @BorisJohnson – with many Democrats distinctly unimpressed with him and #Brexit
— Cathy Newman (@cathynewman) October 6, 2020

Biden has also taken issue with Johnson over his characterization of former President Barack Obama, accusing the part-Kenyan president of having “an ancestral dislike of the British Empire.”

U.K. officials have been dispatched to Washington to meet with Biden advisers and foreign policy officials, the Times reported.

The fear is that a Biden administration will seek more globalist trade policies than the bilateral agreements the Trump administration sought. Brexit has put Great Britain somewhat on the outs with the more Biden-friendly European Union.

A recent YouGov poll found that 61% of Britons said they supported a Democratic win in the Nov. 3 election, while only 13% said they were backing Trump.

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