The first meeting between PM and the new US President could be a video call due to Covid’s restrictions

Boris Johnson’s first meeting with Joe Biden was held in a Zoom video call.

The PM has never met the President and may not see him in person until the summer due to the global pandemic.

The UK was represented for the first time yesterday by Countess Karen Pierce, the British ambassador to the USA.

She said the UK was waiting to hear whether the new administration wanted a face-to-face or meaningful meeting ahead of the G7 summit in June, when world leaders would gather in the Corn.

The Ambassador told Radio 4’s Today program: ‘We know they want to increase protections [from Covid-19] so are we [will] waiting to hear from them in the coming days whether that includes face-to-face meetings. If it does, we’re pretty used to now holding Zoom meetings, meaningful meetings, so I’m sure that will happen between the Prime Minister and President Biden. But we are waiting to hear. ‘

Choosing her words carefully, she said the diplomatic community was ‘very pleased to see American democracy emerge’ and looked forward to a ‘period of co-operation’.

Some people see the lack of an early invitation to Washington as a snub, especially if other Western leaders travel to the U.S. to congratulate Mr. Biden in the next few weeks.

It will also raise concerns about the strength of the so-called Special Relationship under Mr Biden, who has previously described the PM as a ‘clone’ of Donald Trump.

After the inauguration of the new President of the United States, world leaders usually race to be the first to be invited to the White House.

In 2017, the race was won by Theresa May, who immediately returned the favor by honoring President Trump with a full state visit.

Despite Mr. Biden’s long career in frontline politics, and Mr. Johnson’s time as foreign secretary under Mrs. May, the two men never met, and had not even spoken until the leader of the Democrats defeated Mr Trump in November.

Ministers feared a diplomatic snub from Mr Biden’s team. In 2019, Mr Biden, a strong Brexit opponent, described Mr Johnson as a ‘physical and emotional clone’ of Donald Trump. But he moved quickly to build bridges last year. Mr Johnson was the first European leader to be called by Mr Biden after defeating Mr Trump in November.

Ministers hope that the UK ‘s hosting of this year’ s G7 and Cop26 climate conferences will allow the two leaders to connect over their shared commitment to tackling climate change.

Diplomats at the Foreign Office were celebrating the departure of Donald Trump, which has led to horrific movements in the region at countless times. One diplomat commented: ‘Not many shed tears.’

The sentiment was shared on both sides of the Atlantic, with a U.S. source saying: ‘The sigh of relief is not necessarily about policy but more the character of the man leaving the White House. ‘

Defending his close relationship with Mr Trump, Mr Johnson said: ‘I think it is very important that the UK Prime Minister has the best relationship with the President of the United States. That’s part of the job description. ‘

He later raised a question yesterday as to whether he thought Mr Biden was ‘awakened’ – a term in the US that was first used to describe those concerned about social and racial injustice. .

He said there was ‘nothing wrong with being awakened’ – but said he would always stand with those who wanted to demolish images of historical figures like Churchill.

It came after Labour’s criticism of Lisa Nandy’s Labor issues that Mr Biden’s election was a lesson to her party that a ‘wake-up’ politician was capable of winning a major election.

She said the President was a ‘wake-up man’ who had ‘stood up for the Black Lives Matter campaigners’.

Speaking during the Prime Minister’s Questions, Mr Johnson emphasized the common ground between Biden’s administration and his own.

He said the UK was the first country to set a target of zero carbon emissions by 2050s, saying: ‘We hope President Biden will join us. We will work with President Biden to secure the alliance across the ocean and Nato. ‘The issue of Northern Ireland and Brexit has been a source of tension between the Government and Mr Biden, whose ancestors were Irish Catholics. Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis plans to fly out to the U.S. to meet with Biden’s team for a visit after the inauguration, sources said.

Government officials are also exploring options for better communication on Northern Ireland in Washington DC. There have been talks about seconding an officer from the Northern Ireland Office to the UK embassy in Washington.