Britain rejects 'bi-latte' jibe aimed at Joe Biden-Rishi Sunak meeting

Downing Street denies Prime Minster’s interactions with US President in Northern Ireland will be low-key

Joe Biden and Rishi Sunak met in the US last month. Reuters

The UK has dismissed reports that a meeting between British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and US President Joe Biden will be little more than a coffee morning get-together.

One US official, quoted in The New York Times, joked that the summit was a "bi-latte" rather than a formal bilateral meeting.

Hours before Mr Biden was due to land in Northern Ireland to mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, No 10 Downing Street denied Mr Sunak’s interactions with Mr Biden in Northern Ireland would be “low-key”.

The Prime Minister will greet the US President when he lands in Air Force One on Tuesday and the two leader's will hold talks in Belfast on Wednesday.

The White House, though, has made efforts to scale back their meeting from a bilateral to a less formal coffee, The New York Times reported.

Mr Sunak will not attend Mr Biden’s main engagement in Northern Ireland — a speech at Ulster University on Wednesday.

Asked why the plans appeared low-key, a No 10 spokesman said on Tuesday: “I wouldn’t characterise it as that. As I’ve said, the Prime Minister will see him tonight, he will see him again tomorrow.

“You’ve seen the President’s actions during his time demonstrate that we have a close relationship. His first visit outside of North America was to the UK, where he met both the queen and the prince of Wales.”

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  Former British prime minister Tony Blair and former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern sign the Good Friday agreement on April 10, 1998. This year marks 25 years since the signing of the historic agreement. PA

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  The original Good Friday agreement. PA

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  Mr Ahern speaking at University College Dublin at an event organised by the Fianna Fail party to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement in Dublin. PA

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  RTE television presenter Miriam O'Callaghan with former US president Bill Clinton, who appeared on Prime Time in April to mark 25 years of the agreement. PA

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  Erin McArdle, left, who was born on April 10, 1998, and her mother Caroline, hold The Telegraph which was published on the same day, at her home in Ballymena in Northern Ireland. EPA

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  Attendees of the 63rd Plenary of the British-Irish Parliamentary Assembly pose together in March on the steps of Parliament Buildings in Stormont in Belfast, to mark the 25th anniversary of the agreement. PA

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  Mr Blair and Mr Clinton hold hands an event to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement in Belfast, Northern Ireland, on April 10, 2018. Reuters

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  British army soldiers from 2nd Battalion, The Prince of Wales Royal Regiment, leave Bessbrook British army base for the last time in South Armagh in Northern Ireland, on June 25, 2007. AP

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  Mr Blair, former US Senator George Mitchell and Mr Ahern, at Downing Street, London, to announce a review of the Northern Ireland peace process in July 1999. PA

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  Royal Ulster Constabulary Police officers stand on Market Street after a car bombing in the centre of Omagh in Northern Ireland, in August 1998. AP

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  Mr Blair argues his case for the Yes vote in the peace referendum at the University of Ulster in Northern Ireland in May 1998. PA

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  Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble, U2 singer Bono, and SDLP leader John Hume on stage for the 'YES' concert at the Waterfront Hall in Belfast in May 1998. PA

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  Mr Blair and Mr Ahern sign the Good Friday Agreement on April 10, 1998. PA

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  Mr Blair, former US senator George Mitchell, and Mr Ahern pose after signing the agreement. AP

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  Mr Blair greets Mr Ahern at Downing Street, London, in July 1997. PA

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  Mr Blair and a Belfast schoolgirl, Margaret Gibney, inside 10 Downing Street in June 1997. Ms Gibney had become popular around the world after she asked Mr Blair to bring peace to Northern Ireland. PA

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  The Sinn Fein's deputy leader, Martin McGuinness, and leader Gerry Adams at a rally in Belfast in December 1994. AP

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  People gather at the scene of a car bomb explosion outside the Sinn Fein headquarters in West Belfast in Northern Ireland in September 1994. AP

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  British troops with armoured vehicles surround a blazing barricade near the Andersonstown Police Station in Belfast in 1979. AP

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  British troops look on as members of the Ulster Defence Association march through Belfast in 1972. AP

“We continue to have an incredibly positive working relationship with the President and the US government.”

During the talks, Mr Sunak would raise the UK’s “enduring partnership” with the US, trade, investment and other areas of shared interest, the government spokesman added.

He played down the prospect of negotiations being reopened on a post-Brexit free-trade deal with the US, saying this was “not the only way of strengthening the UK-US trade relationship”.

A free-trade deal with the world’s largest economy was originally touted as one of the potential prizes for leaving the European Union but talks have stalled.

Mr Biden’s visit has been timed to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement and Mr Sunak said he was focusing on fulfilling the promise of the peace deal.

Aides to Mr Biden said he would speak to Northern Ireland's political leaders to hail the peace deal and encourage economic ties to the US.

In a speech on Wednesday he will give a shout-out to "the youth generation in Northern Ireland" and "the impact that they’re having economically and domestically, politically," said his top national security spokesman John Kirby.

He downplayed suggestions that Mr Biden would seek to persuade the Democratic Unionist Party to return to power-sharing at the Stormont parliament, which has been in limbo for months.

Mr Sunak was not planning to meet Northern Ireland's political leaders while in the region, but Downing Street denied this was a sign he had given up on getting the DUP back into power-sharing.