The US and the UK’s special relationship is threatened by Biden’s view on Brexit

Editorial: If the prime minister had more sense, he would wake up to this modern-day Suez crisis and do whatever the new Washington-Dublin-Brussels axis asks

THIS IS A HOLDING CARTON FOR NOV 10 (Brian Adcock)

Reportedly, Boris Johnson recently joked to his colleagues that at least Joe Biden was one of the few world leaders he hasn’t insulted. Nearly right, as ever, prime minister, they might reply, because you did once disparage President Obama’s Kenyan ancestry, and those like Mr Biden and many incoming officials who served in the Obama administration haven’t forgotten it. 

A few insults of their own about Mr Johnson have been flying around Twitter, while President-elect Biden has called Mr Johnson a “physical and emotional clone” of Donald Trump. Mr Biden, proud of his Irish background, doesn’t seem a natural soulmate of Mr Johnson. Ironically it may be Mr Biden’s ancestry and resentment of British imperialism that causes tensions in the so-called special relationship.  

British officials like to play down such talk, stressing instead common values and shared interests that transcend personalities. That is fair, to an extent. Mr Johnson was not such a clone of President Trump that he took Britain out of the Paris Agreement, the Iran nuclear deal, the World Health Organisation or moved the British embassy in Israel to Jerusalem. Britain and the US remain close, natural allies, as history shows.