Biden faces calls to stand down by former UK ambassador to the US after ‘historically bad performance’

President Joe Biden has faced calls to stand down by the former UK ambassador to the US after a “historically bad performance” in his TV debate with Donald Trump.

Mr Biden and former US president Trump went head to head for the first debate of the 2024 presidential election on Thursday night.

However, Mr Biden’s performance continued to raise concerns about his age and mental fitness as he struggled with his lines, mumbled and at times appeared confused.

During one particularly excruciating moment he lost his train of thought while discussing healthcare, before pausing, and saying, “We finally beat Medicare”. Mr Trump responded: “He did beat Medicare. Beat it to death.”

At another point when Mr Biden trailed off while talking about immigration, Mr Trump responded: “I don’t know if he knows what he said, either.”

Lord Kim Darroch, who served as British ambassador to the United States between January 2016 and December 2019, urged Mr Biden to stand down.

He said on Radio 4’s Today programme: “Joe Biden should stand aside. This was a historically bad performance. He was inaudible, incoherent and lost his train of thought several times.

“Some of his answers simply made no sense. The one “we have beaten Medicaid” will be repeated a thousand times between now and the election. He should stand down — it’s very hard to see him winning now.”

Lord Darroch was forced to quit his stateside role in July 2019 – before Boris Johnson took the reins as Prime Minister – after frank diplomatic cables referring to Donald Trump were leaked.

In the leaked information he referred to Mr Trump’s White House as “inept” and “dysfunctional”.

Lord Darroch’s intervention comes as Democrats in the United States attempted to contain the fallout from