Biden to Meet With King Charles III, UK PM Sunak on Way to NATO Meeting

U.S. President Joe Biden flew into the United Kingdom on Sunday night, a stop-off on his way to the NATO summit in Lithuania tomorrow, and is due to meet with PM Sunak and take tea with King Charles III at Windsor Castle.

Biden is on a three-nation tour of Europe, starting with the United Kingdom, followed by the NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, and then to Helsinki, Finland, the newest member of NATO. He stayed the night at the American Embassy overnight and will travel to Windsor Castle today.

Update 1100 — Biden Meets With PM Sunak

President Biden’s sixth meeting with Rishi Sunak during his presidency, but his first visit to 10 Downing Street, the official residence and office of the UK Prime Minister. Biden said the Anglo-American relationship is “rock solid”.

Next, the President will be heading to meet King Charles III who will, inevitably, talk to him about climate change.

The original story continues below

While the United States and the United Kingdom have been for decades some of the closest allies in the West, relations have been strained in recent years, first by the reluctance of the British elite to try and get along with Donald Trump — a self-confessed lover of the UK who has strong British roots — and then by the anti-UK sentiment of Joe Biden.

The United Kingdom angered the Democrat political establishment in the United States by defying the clear instruction of President Obama in 2016 to vote to remain in the European Union, and while disagreements with Biden have been clothed with expediency in terms of his Irish heritage, they otherwise all boil down to Brexit questions.

As if on cue, another disagreement emerged just hours before Biden flew to London on Air Force One, with the United States agreeing to supply cluster munitions to Ukraine. Banned by over 100 nations worldwide, cluster weapons deliver a large number of bomblets over an area, which can often lie dormant for long periods of time before being inadvertently discovered.

Cluster bombs are banned by those signatory nations because of “the humanitarian effects of cluster munitions, particularly on civilian populations… Cluster munitions cause unacceptable harm”. The United Kingdom and Spain — who both criticised Biden’s decision — are signatories of the treaty, but the United States, Ukraine, and Russia are not.

Biden will meet with UK Prime Minister Sunak this morning, and their conversation is due to involve Ukraine as well as other issues. Ahead of the meeting, Biden’s National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan played down any gulf between the men, saying the two leaders are “on the same page strategically on Ukraine, in lockstep on the bigger picture”.

The U.S. President is then due to take tea with King Charles III at Windsor Castle, the 10th-century Norman fortification which is the largest and oldest inhabited castle in the world. During the visit, Biden will be shown a collection of U.S.-related historical artefacts. On previous visits, past U.S. Presidents were treated to viewing historical documents relating to America’s Declaration of Independence, including letters from George Washington and King George III.