- The US President beamed as he chatted to Charles after a friendly greeting
- Earlier, he sat down with Rishi Sunak in the Downing Street garden
President Joe Biden appeared to be reluctant to end his conversation with a King’s guardsman while a smiling Charles tried to usher him along on his first visit to the UK since missing the Coronation.
The King tried to move the American president along when he was visiting Windsor Castle but Biden seemed too focused on his conversation with one of the Welsh Guards to notice.
A smiling Charles then gestured with his arms to continue the tour of the grounds, but Biden yet again turned to the guard, leaving the King chuckling to himself.
From our partners:
King Charles let Joe Biden take the lead today as the pair met at Windsor Castle following the President’s short summit with Rishi Sunak in Downing Street.
The US President, 80, arrived to talk with the King about climate change after spending just42 minutes with the Prime Minister in London.
He attended the state funeral of Charles’s mother, Queen Elizabeth II, in September, but did not go to the Coronation – with his wife, Jill, attending instead.
Mr Sullivan said the President has ‘huge respect’ for the King’s commitment on the climate issue in particular.
He said Charles has been a ‘clarion voice’ on climate and ‘someone who’s mobilised action and effort.’
‘So the President comes at this with enormous goodwill,’ Sullivan told reporters yesterday as Biden flew to London.
Once inside the Castle, Mr Biden and the King joined participants of the Climate Finance Mobilisation forum.
The group were led by Energy Secretary Grant Shapps and Mr Biden’s climate envoy John Kerry, among others.
After departing Windsor, Mr Biden made his way to Stanstead Airport to fly to Lithuania ahead of a Nato summit in which the war in Ukraine and the US decision to send cluster bombs to the country will be high on the agenda.
Mr Biden’s meeting with Mr Sunak came amid mounting frustration that he is largely ignoring the UK’s views.
More flashpoints have emerged over recent days, with Mr Biden pouring cold water on the idea of Ukraine joining Nato anytime soon.
He has also put Mr Sunak in an awkward position by declaring the US will supply Kyiv with cluster bombs – weapons the UK is committed to shunning.
And the pair may have had exchanges over the next head of Nato, after Mr Biden seemingly blocked the ambitions of Defence Secretary Ben Wallace and backed the EU’s Ursula von der Leyen for the top job.
Tory MP David Jones told MailOnline engagement was useless if there was no ‘positive response’.
‘The PM should remind him which country is America’s strongest ally,’ he added.
As the leaders sat down on rattan furniture in the Downing Street garden, Mr Biden told Mr Sunak he ‘couldn’t be meeting with a closer friend and greater ally’.
‘Our relationship is rock solid,’ he said.
Mr Sunak said the pair would consider ‘how do we strengthen our co-operation, joint economic security to the benefit of our citizens’.
He added: ‘We stand as two of the firmest allies in that alliance and I know we’ll want to do everything we can to strengthen Euro-Atlantic security.’
Mr Biden is said to be pushing for the current European Commission president to take charge of the military alliance.
But MPs complained that he is ‘being a d***’, after apparently being angered by Britain failing to get his approval to train Ukrainian pilots for F-16 fighter jets.
Conservatives have warned that Ms von der Leyen was the ‘worst ever’ German defence minister before becoming commission president.
On her watch Berlin’s troops notoriously trained with broomsticks on Nato exercises because they did not have enough rifles.
Mr Biden told CNN in an interview broadcast as he set off on his journey that Ukraine was not ‘ready for membership’ in NATO.
‘I don’t think there is unanimity in NATO about whether or not to bring Ukraine into the NATO family now, at this moment, in the middle of a war,’ he said.
He noted that NATO members are committed every inch of each other’s territory, while war is raging inside Ukraine.
‘If the war is going on, then we’re all in war,’ he said.
His tone appeared far more downbeat than the UK, which has urged a positive message on the prospects for Ukraine joining Nato.
By: HARRY HOWARD and RORY TINGLE and MIRIAM KUEPPER
Originally published at Daily Mail
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