LONDON − President Joe Biden trumpeted a “rock solid” relationship with the United Kingdom as he met with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at his official residence and office at No. 10 Downing Street on Monday.
It was Biden’s first visit to No. 10 as president and took place as he makes his way to a NATO summit in Lithuania. Biden will also meet privately with King Charles III at Windsor Castle on Monday afternoon.
“It’s good to be back,” Biden joked as he was greeted by Sunak.
“We’ve got a lot to talk about. I think we’re doing well. We’re moving along in a way that’s positive. But our relationship is rock solid,” he said.
The two leaders were expected to discuss Russia’s war in Ukraine and it is their first meeting since the U.S. announced Friday it would send cluster munitions to Ukraine. Britain is one of 123 signatories to a convention that bans the weapon. The U.S., Ukraine and Russia are not. Sunak said he “discourages” the use of the weapon.
Ahead of their encounter, the White House said the pair would seek to reinforce close ties.
“I think you can consider this more the continuation of a long-running conversation than a, kind of, formal meeting,” White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters on Sunday, as the president flew from Delaware to London.
Biden is making his fifth official visit to the UK as president. It it his sixth meeting with Sunak since the British politician became prime minister last year. Sunak and Biden also met last month in Washington.
After Biden’s meeting with King Charles III at Windsor Castle, they will attend a meeting with business leaders and U.S. Special Envoy for Climate John Kerry where the White House says they will discuss clean energy initiatives and ways to mitigate the effects of climate change on developing countries adapt to the impacts of climate change.
Although the U.S. president and British monarch have conversed on several previous occasions since Biden took office, including at a 2021 climate conference in Glasgow, Monday marks their first formal meeting since Charles’ coronation.
Biden did not attend the crowning. First lady Jill Biden represented the first family at the May ceremony at Westminster Abbey. The president and Charles spoke by phone prior to the celebration, as Biden was preparing to visit Northern Ireland.
Sullivan said Sunday, as the president flew from Delaware to London, that it was an “incredibly warm” conversation. He said that Biden, 80, knows Charles, 74, “fairly well” and has “huge respect” for his leadership on tackling climate problems.
“And so the president comes at this with enormous goodwill − this relationship with enormous goodwill − and really does see this as an opportunity to do two things: One, to deepen the personal bond, the personal relationship. And two, to be able to harness their shared interest in trying to drive climate progress and climate action,” Sullivan said.
Biden has been to Windsor Castle on one previous occasion as president, a little more than two years ago, when he and his wife joined the late Queen Elizabeth II for tea and crumpets.
As the U.S. president signed a condolence book at the British embassy in Washington upon the queen’s death, he recalled the visit fondly.
“When the queen had us to the castle for tea and − we were joking − crumpets − she kept offering me more; I kept eating everything she put in front of me,” he said.
