Biden and Johnson hold first meeting, but N. Ireland casts shadow

Joe Biden and Boris Johnson

Joe Biden and Boris Johnson will hold their first face-to-face meeting Thursday, during which they will lay the foundations for a new pact, despite Brexit and its consequences in Northern Ireland casting a shadow on the old ‘special relationship’. Biden -- on his first overseas tour as US president -- and the British Prime Minister are set to agree a modern version of the 1941 ‘Atlantic Charter’ signed by Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt, that set out post-war goals for democracy, trade and opportunity. But while keen to affirm the strength of the long-celebrated partnership, Biden has reportedly ordered US diplomats to scold Johnson over his handling of Brexit and its effects on the Northern Ireland peace process. The Times daily reported America's most senior diplomat in Britain, Yael Lempert, told Brexit Minister Lord Frost that the UK government was ‘'inflaming' tensions in Ireland and Europe with its opposition to checks at ports in the province’.