Joe Biden, Boris Johnson look to ‘build back better’ in chummy call

The Special Relationship between the United Kingdom and the United States looks poised to continue, if a sunny-side-up readout of a call between the Prime Minister and the President-elect is to be believed.

Following a tweet in which Conservative Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he looked forward to “building back better” with Democratic President-elect Joe Biden, the PM’s London press shop offered a glowing appraisal of the communication.

“In a call this afternoon the Prime Minister warmly congratulated Joe Biden on his election as President of the United States,” the version of events from 10 Downing Street held. “The Prime Minister also conveyed his congratulations to Vice President-elect Kamala Harris on her historic achievement.”

From there, Johnson’s comms shop made it clear that the Prime Minister was optimistic.

“They discussed the close and longstanding relationship between our countries and committed to building on this partnership in the years ahead, in areas such as trade and security – including through NATO.”

Whereas lame duck President Donald Trump has been skeptical of such trans-Atlantic alliances, contending that America has subsidized Europe’s defense to its own detriment, the Biden administration is widely expected to return to more traditional institutionalist views.

Johnson and Biden, per the readout, “also looked forward to working closely together on their shared priorities, from tackling climate change, to promoting democracy, and building back better from the coronavirus pandemic.”

“The Prime Minister invited the President-elect to attend the COP26 climate change summit that the UK is hosting in Glasgow next year. They also looked forward to seeing each other in person, including when the UK hosts the G7 Summit in 2021.”

Johnson had summed up the meeting via his own tweet, saying that he had spoken to Biden to congratulate him on the election, covering much of the same ground.

“I look forward to strengthening the partnership between our countries and to working with him on our shared priorities – from tackling climate change, to promoting democracy and building back better from the pandemic,” the Prime Minister tweeted.

Biden also talked with French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel Tuesday. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke with the President-elect Monday.