Donald Trump invites Boris Johnson to White House as Brexit looms
Eager to cement his friendship with newly elected Boris Johnson, Donald Trump wants the British PM to visit Washington as soon as possible.
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US President Donald Trump has invited Boris Johnson to the White House for a visit next month following the British Prime Minister’s election win earlier this month and Britain’s expected exit from the European Union, according to new reports.
“Some potential dates have been floated in mid-January but nothing has yet been formally agreed. But it is clear that both sides want to make it happen sometime in early 2020,” a White House source told the Sunday Times.
Mr Trump also plans to offer Mr Johnson a happy new year with “massive trade deal” after Brexit.
This will set Britain on the way to a new trade deal with the US once the country finally leaves the EU.
A source close to the White House said: “The president has made it clear that he wants to strike a massive trade deal with the UK and has underlined his commitment by inviting Mr Johnson and his partner, Carrie Symonds, to visit him in the US in the new year.
The planned visit was set in motion after Mr Johnson’s election victory, with the US President said to have rung the British PM offering a visit “wherever they wanted” during a phone call offering his congratulations.
Mr Johnson’s Conservative Party won a majority of seats in the British elections on December 12, paving the way for the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the EU on January 31.
Following the vote, Mr Johnson said his government has a “powerful new mandate to get Brexit done and not just to get Brexit done but to unite this country and to take it forward.”
Mr Trump lauded Mr Johnson for his election victory, saying it opened up the possibility of a trade deal between the two countries.
“Congratulations to Boris Johnson on his great WIN! Britain and the United States will now be free to strike a massive new Trade Deal after BREXIT,” Mr Trump wrote on December 13. “This deal has the potential to be far bigger and more lucrative than any deal that could be made with the EU Celebrate Boris!”
But Mr Johnson has been reluctant to travel to the United States until Brexit is completed, British media reported.
NEW COIN TO COMMEMORATE SPLIT WITH EU
It comes as a new coin to be produced in Britain to mark its departure from the EU will boast that Brexit will deliver “peace, prosperity and friendship with all nations” – despite years of turmoil over the geopolitical divorce.
Mr Johnson’s government has ordered that a new coin be produced to commemorate the split with the EU, after a previous batch was melted down when Brexit was delayed.
The 50 pence coin will be inscribed with the EU exit date of January 31, and the words “peace, prosperity and friendship with all nations”.
Coins have traditionally been specially minted in the past to mark important occasions such as the death of Princess Diana and the Queen’s many anniversaries of her long period of rule.
Production of a previous Brexit coin was halted when Britain missed the October 31 Brexit deadline due to wrangling in parliament over how to leave.
One million coins were reportedly melted down.
The decision to make a fresh batch was taken in the wake of Mr Johnson’s victory in last week’s general election.
He has promised to finally “Get Brexit Done”.
Ministers in the Privy Council, an advisory group to Queen Elizabeth II, made the decision at a meeting on December 17.
The coins will be made in gold, silver and cupronickel. It is not known how much the new batch will cost.
SINGERS SLAM ‘BAD MAN BORIS’
It comes as rapper Stormzy has claimed the UK is “definitely, 100 per cent racist” in his latest tirade against Mr Johnson – days after telling schoolchildren he’s a “bad man”.
The star said the newly elected Prime Minister’s comments about “letterbox” Muslim women in a column last year had emboldened Brits with similar views.
Labour-supporting Stormzy said Mr Johnson was a “figurehead” whose actions had made it more acceptable to express racism openly.
He told Italian newspaper La Repubblica: “If the top person can openly say this racist thing – the ‘piccaninnies’ remarks, ‘watermelon smiles’, comparing Muslim women to a letter box – if that is our figurehead, the top man, the leader we have to follow, and he openly says these things, he encourages hate among others.”
He continued: “Before, people had to hide their racism.
“If you felt something bad about black people, about Muslims, you had to shut up. Now these people have the confidence to come out in public to say everything. This is scary to me, that scares the s**t out of me.”
Meanwhile, former One Direction singer Harry Styles also tore into Mr Johnson during a secret London gig with the rapper.
As he performed Vossi Bop with Stormzy, Styles encouraged the crowd to chant: “F**k the government and f**k Boris.”
UK POLITICIANS OK BORIS’S BREXIT BILL
It comes as British politicians gave preliminary approval last Friday to Mr Johnson’s Brexit bill, clearing the way for the UK to leave the European Union next month.
The House of Commons voted 358-234 for the Withdrawal Agreement Bill.
It will receive more scrutiny and possible amendment next month, and also has to be approved by Parliament’s upper chamber, the House of Lords.
But Mr Johnson’s commanding Conservative majority in parliament means it is almost certain to become law in January.
Britain will then leave the EU on January 31.
Mr Johnson said that passing the bill would end the “acrimony and anguish” that has consumed the country since it voted in 2016 to leave the EU.
Opponents argue that leaving the EU will only trigger more uncertainty over Britain’s future trade relations with the bloc.
The vote was a moment of triumph for Mr Johnson, who won a commanding parliamentary majority in the December 12 general election on a promise to end more than three years of political gridlock and lead Britain out of the European Union on January 31.
The UK’s departure will open a new phase of Brexit, as Britain and the EU race to strike new relationships for trade, security and host of other areas by the end of 2020.
Mr Johnson, however, painted Friday’s vote as a moment of closure.
Opening debate on the bill he said, optimistically, that after January, 31, “Brexit will be done, it will be over.”
“The sorry story of the last three-and-a-half-years will be at an end and we will be able to move forward together,” he said.
“This is a time when we move on and discard the old labels of ‘leave’ and ‘remain,”’ Mr Johnson added.
“Now is the time to act together as one reinvigorated nation.”
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The bill commits Britain to leaving the EU on January 31 and to concluding trade talks with the bloc by the end of 2020.
Trade experts and EU officials say striking a free trade deal within 11 months will be a struggle, but Mr Johnson insists he won’t agree to any more delays.
The Brexit bill has been amended to bar ministers from agreeing to extend the transition period with the EU.
That has set off alarm bells among business es, who fear that means the country will face a “no-deal” Brexit at the start of 2021. Economists say that would disrupt trade with the EU – Britain’s biggest trading partner – and plunge the U.K. into recession.
Mr Johnson said he was confident of striking a “deep, special and democratically accountable partnership with those nations we are proud to call our closest friends” by the Brexit deadline.
He said extending the transition period would just prolong Brexit “acrimony and anguish … a torture that came to resemble Lucy snatching away Charlie Brown’s football.”
For all Mr Johnson’s talk of “getting Brexit done”, details of Britain’s negotiating stance – and even who will lead the trade talks – remain unknown.
Armed with his 80-seat majority in the 650-seat House of Commons, Mr Johnson has stripped out parts of the Brexit bill that gave politicians a role in negotiating a future trade deal with the EU and required ministers to provide regular updates to parliament.
The clauses were added earlier in the year in an attempt to win opposition politicians’ support for the Brexit bill – backing that Johnson no longer needs.
A promise that workers’ rights will not be eroded after Brexit has also been removed from the bill, although the Conservative government says it will enshrine employment rights in separate legislation.
Opposition Labour Party politician Hilary Benn said Mr Johnson’s bill was “a gamble with our nation’s economy.”
“If he fails, the cliff-edge of a no-deal Brexit becomes in just 12 months’ time,” he said.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said his 203 politicians would oppose the Brexit bill because of “the reckless direction in which the government and the prime minister are determined to take our country.”
“There is a better and fairer way for this country to leave the European Union,” he said.
Even without opposition votes, the bill is expected to complete its passage through parliament in January, in time for Britain to leave the 28-nation bloc on time.
The divorce deal also needs to be ratified by the European parliament.
European parliament vice president Pedro Silva Pereira said officials expect that to happen by January 29.
Very little will change immediately after Brexit.
Britain will remain an EU member in all but name during the 11-month transition period that ends in December 2020.
JOHNSON TAKING ADVICE FROM HOWARD
Meanwhile, it emerged that Mr Johnson is taking the advice of former Australian Prime Minister John Howard to hit the ground running in the first 100 days of his new government, as he launched into his Brexit deal.
New trade deals with the United States and Australia can now be discussed formally, but the UK also has to sign a trade deal with Europe before the end of 2020.
It comes as Mr Howard weighed into the UK political debate, urging Mr Johnson to “seize the moment”.
“The first hundred days are crucial in setting a direction for the new government and there are a range of policy areas where quick wins are possible,” Mr Howard wrote in an article for The Times.
“As a prime minister, you never have more political capital than directly following an election victory. Previous leaders, in the UK, Australia and elsewhere, have regretted not moving more swiftly to reform public services and reshape the inner workings of government.”
He advised the UK move closer to the Asia Pacific region as it looks for trading opportunities post-Brexit, and join a major trading agreement with Australia and Japan.
“In the next 100 days, Britain should apply to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for trans-Pacific Partnership, where it will find close friends and allies such as Australia, New Zealand and Japan, willing to make fast progress on trade,” Mr Howard wrote.