Biden backs Starmer’s bid to renegotiate Brexit and bring UK closer to EU

Joe Biden has backed Keir Starmer’s ambitions to take the UK back closer to the European Union.

The president, who has been a critic of Brexit and the UK’s departure from the EU, made it clear he values the special relationship but only as a “knot” tying together the US and Europe.

He made his comments as Sir Keir had his first audience with the president in the Oval Office since winning the election last week.

President Biden said: “I kind of see you guys as the knot tying the transatlantic alliance together, the closer you are with Europe. We know where you are, you know where we are.”

Sir Keir responded: “Well I think that’s absolutely right.”

It comes as Sir Keir has started the process of renegotiating Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal and also setting up a new EU security pact.

Nearly two and a half centuries after America severed its’ political bonds to the British Empire, President Biden said the United States and the United Kingdom are nonetheless “the best of allies in the whole world” as he met with the new prime minister in the Oval Office.

The meeting between the 81-year-old American president and Sir Keir, a full two decades his junior, came after both leaders participated in talks with other Nato heads of state and government on the first full day of the 32-member block’s annual summit in Washington.

The two men met immediately after England’s Euro 2024 victory over the Netherlands, which clearly cheered Sir Keir ahead of the meeting.

Asked if he thought football is coming home, Starmer replied: “I think it is.”

The president also congratulated England on the victory and said “it is down to your prime minister”.

Sir Keir responded that England remain undefeated under his premiership and has confirmed he will be