It’s not easy being green: Boris Johnson shows off his eco-credentials by visiting a wind farm before the G7 meeting of world leaders discusses climate change – after FLYING 250 miles to Cornwall from London
- The Prime Minister stopped off at Scottish Power’s Carland Cross facility today
- It came after he flew to Newquay Airport from London on a Government jet
- Joe Biden is also en route to the UK for first overseas trip as US president
Boris Johnson paraded his green credentials with a visit to a wind farm today ahead of the G7 conference – after flying to Cornwall.
The Prime Minister stopped off at Scottish Power’s Carland Cross facility near Newquay this afternoon before the start of the world leaders’ summit in Carbis Bay, near St Ives.
Climate change, along with Covid and the growing power of China, is very much on the agenda for the two day meeting in the Cornish resort.
But Mr Johnson raised questions about how green he actually is after flying 250 miles from London to Newquay on a Government jet, rather than taking the six-hour train journey to St Ives.
Questioned on his travel choice, he referenced the site of the interview on a high ridge in the centre of Cornwall.
‘What you have got here is solar power plus wind power, plus a gigantic battery,’ he said.
‘Whatever the weather this wind-cum-solar farm will be able to provide clean, green, renewable energy.
‘And if you attack my arrival by plane, I respectfully point out the UK is actually in the lead in developing sustainable aviation fuel and one of the points in the 10-point plan of our green industrial revolution is to get to ”jet zero” as well as ”net zero” (emissions).’
Boris Johnson paraded his green credentials with a visit to a wind farm today ahead of the G7 conference – after flying to Cornwall
The Prime Minister gets his hands on a tool on a visit to the West Carclaze Garden Village housing development
Mr Johnson was shown how to fit roofing tiles during a visit to the West Carclaze Garden Village housing development
The Prime Minister stopped off at Scottish Power’s Carland Cross facility near Newquay this afternoon before the start of the world leaders’ summit in Carbis Bay and the arrival of US president Joe Biden
But Mr Johnson raised questions about how green he actually is after flying 250 miles from London to Newquay on a Government jet, rather than taking the train.
The Prime Minister Boris Johnson accompanied bt the the Transport Secretary Grant Shapps as they view the LauncherOne at the Spaceport at Newquay Airport
Mr Johnson’s spokesman had earlier told reporters that flying to Cornwall allowed the Prime Minister to appear in the Commons for Prime Minister’s Questions at noon.
It came after Mr Biden left the White House for the G7, arriving in England tonight to begin his first overseas trip as US president.
Mr Biden and his wife Jill, a university professor, are expected to land at RAF Mildenhall, Suffolk in Air Force One as they kick off an eight-day trip to Europe.
He will meet US military personnel stationed at the base before heading to Carbis Bay near St Ives, where the leaders of Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Japan and Canada will gather for three days to discuss the pandemic and climate change among other issues.
Mr Biden is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Boris Johnson for face-to-face talks tomorrow – the first time the two men will have met in person – before the G7 Summit formally gets underway on Friday.
When the summit ends on Sunday, the President and First Lady will meet the Queen at Windsor Castle.
Mr Biden will then depart for Brussels where he will attend a NATO summit and a joint US-EU summit before then heading to Geneva for a bilateral showdown with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
In an article for the Washington Post, Mr Biden said that the trip is about ‘realising America’s renewed commitment to our allies and partners’ as he attempts to build bridges with Britain and the EU after some leaders including German Chancellor Angela Merkel clashed with his predecessor Donald Trump.
The Republican president engaged in a bitter trade row with the EU and slammed NATO members for failing to spend more on defence – sparking fears that he would pull the US out of the military alliance and embolden Russian activity in Ukraine and eastern Europe.
Mr Trump also formally withdrew the US from the Iran nuclear deal and the Paris Agreement – both negotiated by Barack Obama. One of Mr Biden’s first acts as President was to rejoin the climate accord and reopen nuclear talks with the Iranian government, as he sought to reverse the actions of the previous administration.
The White House has said that Mr Biden will meet with Mr Johnson to ‘affirm the special relationship between our nations’ – a term which the prime minister reportedly dislikes because it is ‘too needy’.
Whitehall is understood to have viewed the President’s decision to make the UK his first overseas destination as a major diplomatic victory for Mr Johnson.
The Prime Minister has lavished praised on Mr Biden since he won power in the election last year, in the hope of striking a new free trade deal with the US.
However, there are concerns that he and the President may not get along, after Democratic sources previously questioned whether Mr Johnson was an ‘ally’.
Mr Johnson had sought close relations with Mr Trump, causing Mr Biden to call him a ‘physical and emotional clone’ of the controversial Republican president.
President Joe Biden and first lady Jill left the White House on Wednesday on the way to Cornwall where they will meet Boris Johnson and attend the G7, before a meeting with the Queen and his summit with Vladimir Putin
President Biden brushes a cicada from his neck as he and Jill board Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Base
Surfers enjoy the waves as a Royal Navy ship is seen, as security preparations are underway for the G7 summit, near St Ives
Preparations remain ongoing ahead of the G7 summit in Carbis Bay later this week. A Royal Navy vessel is pictured off the coast of Cornwall on June 8
Mr Johnson faced fierce domestic criticism over his relationship with Mr Trump, but has defended the ties and has insisted that prime ministers should always have the ‘best possible’ ties with sitting US presidents.
There has also been speculation Mr Johnson and Mr Biden could struggle to work together because of the Prime Minister’s past criticism of Mr Obama, in whose administration Mr Biden served as vice president.
Mr Biden is also expected to put pressure on the UK not to renege on the Northern Ireland Brexit Protocol in a bid to preserve the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. US concerns about the province’s trade status could even derail efforts to strike an Anglo-US trade deal.
US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told the BBC: ‘President Biden believes and has said that the Northern Ireland Protocol, as part of the agreement between the UK and the European Union, is critical to ensuring that the spirit, promise and future of the Good Friday Agreement is protected.
‘That being said, of course the UK and EU need to work out the specifics and the modalities on that, need to find some way to proceed that works both for the EU and the UK. But whatever way they find to proceed must, at its core, fundamentally protect the gains of the Good Friday Agreement and not imperil that.
‘And that is the message that President Biden will send when he is in Cornwall.’
However, there were positive signs in March of the ‘special relationship’ warming up after Mr Biden’s climate envoy John Kerry visited London for talks with Mr Johnson. The positive trend continued in May when US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington has ‘no closer partner’ than the UK.
The mini-village built near Cripplesease, near St Ives, to house and feed the security needed for the G7 Summit this weekend
Left: Security patrol a railway line ahead of the G7. Right: Police and military scuba-divers preparing for the summit
Venue for meeting with Boris: The Presidnet and Prime Minister will meet at St Michael’s Mount, pictured on Tuesday as United States Marine Corps (USMC) Osprey helicopters from Biden’s entourage practice their approach
An RAF Giraffe agile multibeam radar system is set up near the beach in Cornwall ahead of the G7 Summit
A 400-strong contingent of Secret Service agents and support staff are due to arrive for the summit being hosted by Boris Johnson and held in the tiny Cornish resort of Carbis Bay. President Biden is believed to be staying in the Tregenna hotel
Police continue their checks in Carbis Bay, Cornwall as world leaders gather to discuss the pandemic and climate change
Armed British police land on Carbis Bay beach early on Tuesday morning as security teams practice ahead of the summit
Why is Joe Biden landing at RAF Mildenhall?
RAF Mildenhall has been home to US airforce personnel and equipment for decades.
The Suffolk base has been used by the American military since 1950, providing Washington with a military foothold in Europe.
Several units are still based there permanently, including the 100th Air Refuelling Wing and a branch of its special operations command.
It had been originally earmarked for closure in 2022 after the Pentagon decided to scale down its military presence on the continent.
However, that decision was later reversed and operations are due to continue at the base.
Mr Biden will join others from the G7 group of leading economies in Carbis Bay on Friday, where Devon and Cornwall Police are expecting climate protests.
Mr Johnson plans to use the summit to urge the members – also including Canada, Japan, France, Germany and Italy – to ‘defeat’ Covid-19 by helping to vaccinate the world by the end of next year.
The White House said in April when it confirmed the trip to Europe that Mr Biden will ‘highlight his commitment to restoring our alliances, revitalizing the Transatlantic relationship, and working in close cooperation with our allies and multilateral partners to address global challenges and better secure America’s interests’.
During an official visit to the UK, Mr Blinken said that the ‘special relationship’ is ‘enduring’, ‘effective’ and ‘dynamic’ as well as being ‘close to the hearts of the American people’.
Speaking at a press conference in Downing Street alongside Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, Mr Blinken said: ‘It is also the 75th anniversary of Winston Churchill’s famous speech at Westminster College in Missouri where he described the Special Relationship between the United Kingdom and the United States and how vital it is for our two countries and many others around the world.
‘Three quarters of a century later, that Special Relationship is enduring, it is effective, it is dynamic and it is close to the hearts of the American people. The United States has no closer ally, no closer partner, than the United Kingdom and I am very glad for the chance to say that again here today.’
The US President’s security team for the Summit is reportedly so vast they will have to stay in more than 50 hired luxury camper vans because there is not enough accommodation.
The recrational vehicles have been delivered to St Mawgan airbase near Newquay, 20 miles from where the meeting of leaders takes place in the tiny Cornish resort of Carbis Bay at the weekend.
A 400-strong contingent of Secret Service agents and support staff will be at the summit, but with thousands of holidaymakers already in the area, almost every hotel and B&B in a 30-mile radius of the summit has been booked.
Meanwhile, video footage showed two Sea King and three V-22 Osprey helicopters soaring above Cornwall and Devon as they practiced the route the President will take from the airbase to Tregenna Castle Resort, St Ives, after Air Force One lands at RAF Mildenhall and then Newquay airport on Wednesday.
Some 1,000 police will be staying on a cruise liner docked in Falmouth harbour and others will stay in RVs currently parked up at the RAF airbase near Newquay.
It comes after a long line of caravans clogged up the A30 on Monday as holidaymakers made their way to the southern-most point of England. One photograph shared on social media showed heavy traffic that had been ‘crawling’ for around 20 minutes near the Devon-Cornwall border.
Police officers and security stand by erimieter barriers erected in Carbis Bay, Cornwall, ahead of the G7 summit
Police officers patrol on motorcycles in Carbis Bay, ahead of the G7 summit in Cornwall
The President is scheduled to meet Boris Johnson for face-to-face talks tomorrow – the first time the two men will have met – before the summit formally gets underway on Friday. The PM pictured in Downing Street’s garden at a reception for teachers
More than 50 of the RVs (pictured) – have been delivered to RAF air base St Magwan which is 20 miles from Carbis Bay where word leaders will meet for the G7 summit at the weekend
The British armed forces have set up a mobile radar station at the National Trust car park in Godrevy near St Ives
Large scale protests took place in London and elsewhere when Mr Trump visited the UK. The ex-president is pictured alongside Queen Elizabeth II at Windsor Castle in July 2018
The US aircraft flew into Cornwall on Monday evening ahead of the meeting of world leaders this weekend
Two Sea kings (one is pictured) and three MV 22 Ospreys fly into Carbis Bay, Cornwall on Monday evening
What will happen at this year’s G7 summit?
The leaders of the world’s seven most advanced economies will arrive in Carbis Bay, Cornwall, on Friday for the start of the G7 summit.
The G7 consists of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the United States.
Formal meetings between the seven leaders will then get underway on Saturday as leaders from guest nations, like Australia, also arrive.
The global recovery from the coronavirus pandemic and efforts to prevent a future world health crisis are expected to dominate discussions.
But climate change and trade matters are also expected to be discussed at length.
Most of the G7’s formal business will be conducted behind closed doors but leaders frequently meet each other in the margins for bilateral talks which often begin on camera.
The summit will draw to a close on Sunday afternoon after a morning of further talks with leaders often conducting individual press conferences before departing.
The UK, as the host nation, will issue a communique following the end of the event to set out what has been agreed.
Meanwhile for the summit, some 30 vehicles have been leased from a Somerset company called Empire RV, which usually supplies luxury vehicles for film shoots and Grand Prix events.
The US camper vans are so large that the company warns many can only be driven by one of their experienced staff and are not available for self-drive hire. The most luxurious ones – some the size of an articulated lorry – can sleep up to eight people and come equipped with satellite TV and other comforts.
The RVsare expected to be driven to the Tregenna Hotel in Carbis Bay where the US President is due to stay during the three-day conference. The castle boasts 98 bedrooms and is the grandest hotel in the county, featuring a 72-acre estate and an 18-hole golf course.
The US motor homes have been rented for £2,500 each for a week by the US Embassy in London and include the 45ft long former RV used by Jensen Button when he was racing in Formula 1.
A spokesman for Bristol based Empire RV said they had set up a mini village at the St Mawgan airbase.
A helicopter, which is dubbed Marine One when the US president is onboard, practised landing on the golf course at the Tregenna Castle Resort – where President Biden and the other leaders will stay – on Monday.
Pilots familiarising the route they will take after Air Force One lands at Newquay Airport later this week have taken to the skies above Cornwall in recent days. Three US Marine Osprey aircraft have been seen over St Michael Mount and the Carbis Bay area.
The aircrafts’ purpose is to fly White House staff during the President’s trips abroad. They also transport Secret Service agents that follow Marine One in case the helicopter goes down.
Ospreys were seen over Haldon Hills near Exeter at 8pm on Monday, where it is thought they may have just left Exeter Airport. By 8.40pm the aircraft were spotted landing at Tregenna Castle Resort.
The helicopters were seen landing at Carlyon Bay, St Austell, at 9.45pm, before descending onto Tregenna Castle Resort at 10.15pm. The aircraft were brought to the UK on the US Air Force’s Boeing C-17 Globemaster III.
They were offloaded at the Royal Navy airbase Culdrose, near Helston, on Sunday. The impressive US-military aircraft flew high over the steep sand dunes of Hayle beach, St Ives, at around 9.30pm on Monday.
Ospreys have helicopter-style propellers so they can take-off and land vertically. Stephen Park, 37 from, Stockport, Greater Manchester was on holiday when his 14-year-old son Harry Park took a video of the machines.
Mr Park said: ‘They really thunder past, and it kind of rattles through you, so you know when they’re going to come overhead. It’s quite an impressive thing to see and unique because I think we were the only people on the beach at the time.
‘The whole thing seemed like an exercise – maybe a dummy run for the real thing. Harry was really excited about all the military planes and world leaders being here at the same time as us.’
Meanwhile, thousands of police officers drafted in from across the country have begun arriving in Devon and Cornwall ahead of the G7 summit. Five thousand mutual aid officers, from forces across the UK, will assist during the event at Carbis Bay Hotel between June 11 and 13.
A briefing centre made up of large marquees has been set up in Devon for all officers to pass through ahead of their deployment. The officers, mainly arriving in police vans and on coaches, must produce a negative lateral flow test for Covid-19 before entering the centre. They are then provided with kit such as body-worn cameras before receiving a hot meal – one of three provided for officers each day – and a takeaway cream tea.
The 400 strong contingent of staff accompanying the President is so large the Cabinet Office, who are organising the G7 event, baulked at waiving quarantine rules for so many. Pictured, the RVs
The RVs, which will be used by support staff and Secret Service agents for President Biden, are expected to be driven to the Tregenna Hotel (pictured) in Carbis Bay where the US President is due to stay during the three-day conference
The luxury RVs will house security personnel during the court of the weekend after tourists booked hotels up
The 14-deck vessel, which was built in Germany in 1993 and can reach speeds of 21 knots, can carry more than 3,000 passengers with hundreds of cocktail-tray waiters, maids and other crew to look after their every need
G7 in a Cornish resort is ‘bonkers’: Leading police chief warns that holding this week’s summit in seaside village is a security nightmare
The G7 summit is a security nightmare because of its ‘bonkers’ location at a seaside resort, a policing leader warned yesterday.
John Apter, head of the Police Federation in England and Wales, suggested little thought had been given to security plans when it was decided to hold the international event in Carbis Bay, in Cornwall.
He spoke out after a coalition of anarchists and nuclear disarmament demonstrators vowed to defy warnings to stay away next week.
Many have questioned the wisdom of choosing a location with only one road going in and out, due to the logistical challenges that poses and the risk of protesters blocking access and causing mayhem.
Mr Apter said: ‘The problem with G7 is it is a significant security operation and the location is interesting – it’s bonkers logistically.
‘Even trying to get accommodation for the officers and staff has been challenging. A lot of planning has gone into it, nothing is bigger than the heads of state coming together, police officers will do their utmost but many of them are knackered after this last year when there has been no break at all for them.
‘My frustration is that there seems to be a real lack of appreciation by the Government about how these decisions impact the police.’
The G8 in 2005 was marred by violence when hundreds of anarchists clashed with police in Scotland.
A 40-minute video briefing from Devon and Cornwall Police officers features topics including the force’s ‘neighbourhood style’ of policing, as well as how to respond to a chemical or terror attack.
Officers pass through welfare tents before being handed a bag containing a reusable spork, mug and water bottle and heading to accommodation in the area.
Superintendent Joanne Hall, of Devon and Cornwall Police, said there would be ‘really high standards of welfare’ for the 6,500 officers and staff on duty during the summit.
‘They’re fed well so when they go out on their deployment, they do a really good job for us in our communities,’ she said. ‘They’ll get a taste of Devon and Cornwall before they leave with a cream tea. That is leading to the inevitable arguments of the Devon way or the Cornwall way.’
A Devon cream tea features cream on the scone, with jam on top. The Cornish version has jam on first and then cream. Ms Hall said the Covid-19 pandemic and the numbers of officers involved had led to the tented briefing area.
‘We’ve got significant numbers of officers helping us police this big event so we need a really big venue or marquee to allow us to host them, but no-one has ever done this in Covid,’ she said.
‘We need to make sure that everything we do is Covid-secure so this has been specifically designed to allow us to get those big numbers through and keep everyone safe.’
She said part of the briefing provided to officers included being ‘proportionate at all times’. Those deployed on the frontline during the summit include firearms and dog officers, as well as some who will be policing cordons on 12-hour shifts.
‘In Devon and Cornwall, we are used to working in a massive geographical area but a lot of forces won’t be used to the distances that we travel across,’ Ms Hall said. ‘We make it clear that this is a very, very big area and our numbers swell every year from 1.8 million to 11 million in the summer.’
Police have already warned residents of Carbis Bay and the St Ives area to expect travel delays, road closures and diversions due to the summit. Residents will need to show two forms of identification before being allowed to pass through checkpoints.
Ms Hall said the restrictions were to ensure residents and delegates could ‘safely’ go in and out of the Carbis Bay area but day visitors would not be allowed.
Chief Inspector Russell Dawe, lead planner for the summit at Devon and Cornwall Police, described it as ‘the largest event of 2021 within England’.
‘Our intention is to police this in the Devon and Cornwall style of policing, so very community-focused,’ Mr Dawe said. ‘There will be disruption and we’ve been very open with the public throughout the build-up to this event.
‘We’ve got world leaders that are coming into a beautiful area of the South West, there is going to be disruption but I would ask that the communities just bear with us. The diversions are in place to keep the traffic flowing as best we can.’
Almost 40 protest groups have made contact with police ahead of the summit. Designated sites have been set up away from Carbis Bay but it is expected that some may go to the area.
Mr Dawe said police would facilitate peaceful protest, with ‘recognised locations’ in suitable places.
He acknowledged that protesters would want to get the attention of world leaders at the summit. ‘Protesters will want to get their voice and their message heard, which is right, but that needs to be done in a peaceful and lawful manner,’ he said.
Extra staff are working in the force’s two control rooms and a temporary unit has been set up to deal with G7 calls.
Superintendent Jane Alford-Mole said there was ‘already demand’ due to Covid-19 restrictions lifting and the holiday period. She asked for people to only call 999 in emergency situations and to use 101 and the force’s website, email and chat service if not.
‘We’ve got a temporary control room that is set up for G7 and we’re staffing that 24/7 through the whole of the G7,’ she said.
The force is ‘confident’ it will be able to deal with calls regarding G7, as well as other incidents in Devon and Cornwall, during the period, she added.
Dilyn’s beach lockdown: How the prime minister’s pooch will not be allowed to run along the sand during the G7 summit
Boris Johnson’s dog Dilyn could be locked inside during the G7 summit – because there is a ban on dogs on the beach nearby.
Strict Cornish rules for bathing beaches means dogs are not allowed in case they foul in the water or shoreline.
Guidelines are set by the local council and people caught flouting them can be slapped with a fine.
Because Carbis Bay has premier ‘Blue Flag’ status for water cleanliness it, along with a handful of other Cornish beaches, has even more stringent rules than most.
Dogs are banned from the beach at Carbis Bay between 8am and 5pm from Easter until September 30.
Boris Johnson’s dog Dilyn could be locked inside during the G7 summit – because there is a ban on dogs on the beach nearby
Local dog owner Len Fizdark, 38, from nearby Lelant, said: ‘All the local people know the rules, but people visiting the area sometimes need to be reminded.
‘It sounds like Dilyn has reached a kind of Waterloo moment! He won’t be able to do his business on Carbis Bay during the day – it doesn’t matter if the PM picks it up or not, it’s not allowed.
‘Boris will have to do walkies somewhere else.’
Cornwall Council recently streamlined rules for dogs exercising on their beaches as there were different rules for almost every beach.
Anyone caught breaking the rules – which only apply in the summer months – can be hit with a £100 fine.
Boris, 56, and his wife Carrie, 33, adopted rescue dog Dilyn in 2019 after moving into No 10.
The Jack Russell-cross pup – which faced near-certain death after being abandoned by a Welsh farmer – now splits his time between Downing Street and the PM’s country retreat Chequers in Buckinghamshire.
Carrie tweeted at the time they adopted Dilyn: ‘Thanks to the wonderful Eileen from @FOAWales who rescued Dilyn after she got a tip off that he was to be dumped by a puppy dealer because he was born with a crooked jaw.
‘Eileen fixed his little jaw & saved his life. She is a hero.’
Carrie’s first official duties as Mrs Johnson! Newlywed will meet First Lady Jill Biden for tea and tour St. Michael’s Mount in Cornwall ahead of the G7 summit
America’s First Lady will meet with newlywed Carrie Symonds during her trip to the UK this week for the G7 summit, the White House has announced.
In a statement released this afternoon, it was confirmed that President Joe Biden’s wife Jill, 70, will enjoy a visit with the new Mrs Johnson, 33, over tea on Thursday.
Jill, a university professor, and Carrie, a former Tory aide, will then tour St. Michael’s Mount off the coast of Cornwall, where the G7 summit is being held on Friday.
Last week, Buckingham Palace announced that the First Lady and her husband President Biden will also meet with the Queen at Windosr Castle on June 13.
America’s First Lady (pictured left) will meet with newlywed Carrie Symonds (pictured right) during her trip to the UK this week for the G7 summit, the White House has announced
Big day! Boris Johnson and Carrie married in a private Catholic ceremony at Westminster Cathedral on May 29, with a small group of family and friends present
‘The President and First Lady will meet with The Right Honorable Boris Johnson, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and Mrs Carrie Johnson,’ the statement from the First Lady’s office read.
‘The First Lady and Mrs Johnson will meet separately over tea and then tour St. Michael’s Mount off the coast of Cornwall.’
This weekend, when Mrs Johnson joins her new husband Boris at the G7 Summit, will be their first major engagement as a married couple.
Carrie will be in charge of all the leaders’ spouses, including France’s First Lady Brigitte Macron, 68, Joachim Sauer, 72, husband of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and Sophie Gregoire Trudeau, 46, wife of Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau.
President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill left the White House on Wednesday on the way to Cornwall where they will meet Boris Johnson and attend the G7, before a meeting with the Queen
Boris and Carrie married in a private Catholic ceremony at Westminster Cathedral on May 29, with a small group of family and friends present.
They proceeded with a small reception in the Downing Street garden, where an official photograph of the bride and groom was taken.
The couple have already sent save-the-date cards for a wider celebration on July 30 next year. The couple’s one-year-old son Wilfred attended the small wedding in the cathedral where he had previously been baptised.
The bride wore a rented long lace gown and a floral headband. She has taken the Prime Minister’s surname and is now known as Mrs Johnson.
It is understood Mrs Johnson was unhappy that an unofficial snap, presumed to have been taken by a guest, circulated on social media. Downing Street declined to comment on the timing of the wedding.
Meanwhile, President Biden is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Boris for face-to-face talks tomorrow – the first time the two men will have met in person – before the summit formally gets underway on Friday.
When the summit ends on Sunday, the President and First Lady will meet the Queen at Windsor Castle.
Mr Biden will then depart for Brussels where he will attend a NATO summit and a joint US-EU summit before then heading to Geneva in Switzerland for a bilateral showdown with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
In an article for the Washington Post, Mr Biden announced that the trip is about ‘realising America’s renewed commitment to our allies and partners’ as he attempts to mend relations with Britain and the EU.
His predecessor Donald Trump engaged in a bitter trade row with the EU and slammed NATO members for failing to spend more on defence – sparking fears that he would pull the US out of the alliance.
The Republican president also angered the international community after he formally withdrew the US from the Iran nuclear deal and the Paris Agreement – both negotiated by Barack Obama. One of Mr Biden’s first acts as President was to rejoin the climate accord and reopen nuclear talks with the Islamic Republic.
Mr Biden also said that he would meet with Mr Johnson to ‘affirm the special relationship between our nations’ – a term which the British premier reportedly told the President that he hates because it is ‘too needy’.
From a university professor to a Tory aide: How Jill Biden and Carrie Johnson both fell in love with political leaders
They’re set to meet over tea on Thursday ahead of the G7 summit – but just what will Jill Biden and Carrie Johnson have in common to talk about? Here, FEMAIL reveals the wives marriages, careers and supportive roles in their husbands’ lives.
MARRIAGE
CARRIE
Rumours Mr Johnson and Ms Symonds were close emerged in 2018, after the then Tory communications chief offered him ‘private coaching’ to help him sell his vision for the party after Brexit.
They were later seen together at the famous London restaurant Rules on February 14 2018 – Valentine’s Day. Mr Johnson only announced his split with his wife, Marina Wheeler, on September 7, 2018.
Boris and Carrie announced last February that they were engaged and expecting a baby – their son, Wilfred, was then born at the end of April.
They now live in a flat above Number 11 Downing Street and adopted a Jack Russell-cross puppy called Dilyn.
Boris and Carrie married in a private Catholic ceremony at Westminster Cathedral on May 29, with a small group of family and friends present.
JILL
Dr Jill Biden is often described as her husband’s biggest defender and one of his most trusted political advisers.
The talented 70-year-old, born in New Jersey, has been married to Joe Biden for 43 years, becoming a stepmother to Beau and Hunter Biden, his two sons from his first marriage, after their mother and baby sister died in a car accident in 1972.
The First Lady was 24 when she met her now-husband – who was 33 at the time and serving as the Delaware Senator.
She had divorced her first husband – former college footballer Bill Stevenson – just a few months prior, and was set up on a blind date with Joe by his brother Frank, who she knew from college, having attended University of Delaware.
Joe famously had to propose to Jill five times before she accepted his offer of marriage – and the English professor later revealed that she avoided marrying him for so long because she was afraid that their union might bring too much disruption to the lives of his sons Hunter and Beau.
The couple married in 1977 at the United Nations chapel and a reception lunch at Sign of the Dove in New York City, and then took sons Beau and Hunter on their honeymoon. Their daughter was born in 1981.
CAREER
CARRIE
Carrie joined the Tory party media machine in 2009, first as a press adviser, then head of broadcast at Conservative campaign headquarters ahead of the 2015 general election, before becoming communications chief in 2017.
However, she was forced to quit just months after being accused of abusing her expenses to the tune of thousands of pounds.
Carrie was asked to leave her £80,000-a-year role after party chiefs said her performance was poor, having previously challenged her over taxi expenses.
She declined to comment on the claims, which a close friend dismissed as nonsense and a bid to smear her by opponents of Brexit.
Carrie was the product of an affair between her father, Matthew, a founder of the Independent, and of newspaper lawyer Josephine McAfee while they were both were married to other people.
Her mother raised her in a three-bed townhouse in East Sheen, South West London, while her father provided financial assistance, though he is not thought to have played a big role in his life.
Carrie was educated at the £20,000-a-year Godolphin and Latymer School in Hammersmith, west London, which counts Nigella Lawson as a former pupil. She then went on to study theatre studies and history of art, graduating with a first from Warwick University.
In 2021, it was announced Carrie had joined animal rights charity The Aspinall Foundation as its head of communications.
JILL
As well as serving as matriarch to the Biden family, Jill has also continued to uphold her career as a teacher and professor of writing at Northern Virginia Community College while fulfilling her role as First Lady.
In 2007, she received a Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) in educational leadership from the University of Delaware.
As Second Lady, she launched Joining Forces with then First Lady Michelle Obama, an initiative to support service members, veterans and their families.
She also launched a children’s book in 2012, Don’t Forget, God Bless Our Troops, which followed the story of their family’s experience with deployment through the eyes of Dr. Biden’s granddaughter, Natalie, in the year her father, Beau, was deployed to Iraq.
SUPPORTIVE WIVES
CARRIE
Carrie has been by the PM’s side since she joined his staff in Downing Street on his arrival in July 2019.
During Carrie and Boris Johnson’s relationship, she has been credited with attempts to transform his public image, with the PM swapping his previously unruly, slap-dash outfits to a noticeably more polished look, with neatly cropped hair and a significantly slimmer waistline last year.
JILL
Jill has shown unwavering support to Joe throughout his political career, serving as his Second Lady during the eight years he spent as Vice President to former President Barack Obama.
Prior to that, she was credited with helping to ‘make her husband whole again’ after he suffered the tragic loss of his first wife Neilia and their infant daughter in a car crash in 1972.
In his 2007 biography, Promises to Keep, Joe thanked his wife for ‘giving him back his life’ and making him feel ‘whole’ again, writing: ‘She gave me back my life. She made me start to think my family might be whole again.’
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