Both the Sunday Times and the Mail On Sunday report claims that Boris Johnson now wishes Donald Trump had been re-elected. But the Mail reports that 10 Downing Street dismisses these claims, saying that it is in neither country’s interests to stoke tensions when the future of Afghanistan hangs in the balance – but there is little question that the U.K. has been left exposed by the speed of Washington’s pull-out. Britain is tied to America’s cut-off date of Aug. 31 for the end of evacuation flights, which was agreed without consultation, meaning that if Joe Biden fails to extend the date, the U.K. will have to stop flights within days – to allow time to also remove the 900 British troops in the country.
No. 10 said “it is ‘categorically untrue’ that Mr. Johnson employs the President’s derogatory nickname of Sleepy Joe during jocular conversations,” wrote the Mail.
“Across Whitehall and in British embassies around the world, officials and diplomats are adjusting to the fact that Mr. Biden has adopted an America First policy every bit as isolationist as his predecessor’s,” the Mail dilates further. There are also concerns “that the 78-year-old [Biden] might be ‘a bit doolally’ – unable to exert full executive grip on the White House and with a world view forged decades ago and out of step with the demands of leadership in the 2020s.”
