Boris Johnson has been warned that Joe Biden “holds grudges” after members of the British government questioned his mental fitness following “completely mad” press briefings on Afghanistan.
The warning follows a report in The Sunday Times that a British government minister said President Biden “looked gaga” while speaking to the press, with a government aide describing the American as “doolally” and the newspaper noting that “Such thoughts are normally never whispered in Whitehall, let alone briefed.”
“Doolally” is an insult with a strong pedigree in Britain, stemming from the name of a town in India where a sanatorium for soldiers rendered temporarily deranged by fever were sent in the 1800s.
U.S. sources have indicated that the 78-year-old Democrat is unlikely to appreciate the rich history of this description of his mental state, however, telling The Telegraph — which is close to the British government — that he is emphatically “not ‘gaga’” and in fact has “actually picked up his game quite a bit since the [election] campaign.”
“The Brits have their view. But they should be careful. What’s been said is offensive and he will remember it. He actually has a long memory,” the source warned the right-leaning newspaper.
“It’s always been his way that if somebody says something really bad to him, or about him, he doesn’t speak to them again. He does bear grudges. Boris Johnson should know that,” they added threateningly.
Prime Minister Johnson, despite being described as something of a “British Trump” by left-wing commentators, had no love for Biden’s predecessor, and has hitherto adopted a sycophantic approach to the Democrat, describing his presidency as a “breath of fresh air” and saying it was “highly likely” he was “not going to disagree with the President on anything” at the G7.
Biden’s botched withdrawal from Afghanistan seems to have marked the end of this honeymoon, however, with the British leader having hinted strongly that he feels the situation there was forced upon him and America’s other allies by the White House.
Reports indicate that Johnson was unable to get the President to take a call from him for over 24 hours as Kabul fell to the Taliban, further souring relations.
Backbench Members of Parliament from the Johnson-led Conservative party have not stopped at hinting at their displeasure, either, with House of Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee chairman Tom Tugendhat branding the Afghan debacle “shameful” and saying of Biden’s criticism of Western-backed Afghan forces: “Those who have never fought for the colours they fly should be careful about criticising those who have.”
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