Well, that didn’t take long…
President-Elect Joe Biden is still eight weeks away from being formally inaugurated as the 46th President of the United States, but he’s already throwing his weight around in a political battle raging thousands of miles away in Europe.
And he couldn’t have chosen a more incendiary issue to immerse himself into than Brexit – the UK’s incredibly controversial decision to break away from the European Union.
Or a more inappropriate time to do it, given that negotiations between the EU and UK dealmakers are reaching the final end game of a lengthy and deeply polarising five-year process since then British Prime Minister David Cameron first decided to put the decision to the people in a Referendum.
For the record, I voted to remain in the EU, believing there is far more economic and military power to be gained from a large strong union of 27 countries than there is from us trying to go it alone.
But I lost, and Leave voters won.
As someone who values democracy above all else, I have since been highly vocal in demanding that the vote be honoured, as many of my fellow Remainers – or ‘Remoaners’ as they’ve been dubbed – refused to admit defeat and shamefully tried to have the result overturned.
President-Elect Joe Biden (pictured in Delaware yesterday) is still eight weeks away from being formally inaugurated as the 46th President of the United States, but he’s already throwing his weight around in a political battle raging thousands of miles away in Europe
In September, Biden posted tweeted: ‘We can’t allow the Good Friday Agreement that brought peace to Northern Ireland to become a casualty of Brexit. Any trade deal between the US and UK must be contingent upon respect for the agreement and preventing the return of a hard border. Period’
One of the key remaining points of contention in Brexit negotiations is the question of the Irish border. It boils down to this: Ireland is an island split into two parts, north and south. The North is part of the United Kingdom, the South is a separate entity and remains a member of the EU. So how does the North leave the EU, which includes the South, without there being a new physical trading border put in place?
Now the situation is that Brexit has happened, the UK has legally left the EU, and all that’s left is for a deal to be concluded between the UK and EU to govern their future trading relationship.
Or for there to be no deal, and therein lies a big problem.
Speaking to reporters in Delaware yesterday, Biden said of Brexit: ‘We do not want a guarded border’
One of the key remaining points of contention is the question of the Irish border.
It boils down to this: Ireland is an island split into two parts, north and south. The North is part of the United Kingdom, the South is a separate entity and remains a member of the EU.
So how does the North leave the EU, which includes the South, without there being a new physical trading border put in place?
And if there is a border, where would it be?
In the Irish sea between Ireland and mainland Britain, or between the two halves of the island?
And if it’s the latter, who would ensure its security and effectiveness?
This is a very complex question, and one that has far-reaching consequences, not least for the people in Ireland who’ve enjoyed widespread peace and prosperity since the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 between the British and Irish governments, chaired by US Special Envoy George Mitchell, that brought an end to the violent sectarian troubles that had ravaged Ireland since the 1960s.
Most of them don’t want a return to armed guards patrolling borders, bringing with it the strong possibility of renewed conflict, as well as connected issues like drug smuggling and migration.
Biden couldn’t have chosen a more inappropriate time to do wade into Brexit, given that negotiations between the EU and UK dealmakers (including British PM Boris Johnson, pictured) are reaching the final end game of a lengthy and deeply polarising five-year process
Students hold up anti-Brexit placards during a rally against Brexit and any hard border being placed between Ireland and Northern Ireland
Leave protesters are pictured outside UK Parliament on January 15, 2019
So, it’s unsurprising that Joe Biden, an Irish-American who makes much of his Irish roots, would have a strong view about it, and it’s one he’s expressed vehemently before – namely that there should not be a border between the two parts of Ireland because it might endanger the peace process. Indeed, he’s gone even further.
‘We can’t allow the Good Friday Agreement that brought peace to Northern Ireland to become a casualty of Brexit,’ he tweeted in September. ‘Any trade deal between the US and UK must be contingent upon respect for the agreement and preventing the return of a hard border. Period.’
That constitutes a direct threat, and it’s one he’s now repeated.
The only difference is that he’s President-Elect, and the man who will be US President from January 20.
And that makes what Biden has now said and done about the situation so problematic.
Speaking to reporters in Delaware yesterday, he said: ‘We do not want a guarded border. We’ve worked too long to get Ireland worked out. I’ve talked with the British prime minister; I’ve talked with the Taoiseach; I’ve talked with others and I’ve talked with the French. The idea of having a border north and south once again being closed is just not right, we’ve just got to keep the border open.’
So, let me get this straight: the incoming President of the United States has been hitting the phones ordering European allies how they should be negotiating something that has nothing directly to do with him or America?
Sorry, but this is completely unacceptable.
Just as it’s very concerning to see another senior Democrat with very close ties to Biden trying to order Britain around on how much we spend on our overseas aid budget.
John Podesta, a former adviser to Presidents Obama and Clinton, told the BBC the UK Government’s planned reduction of the spending target was ‘extremely unfortunate.’
No, Mr Podesta, what’s ‘extremely unfortunate’ is you using your Biden connection to shove your big unwanted gob into our affairs.
As for Biden himself, I happen to agree with him that the Good Friday Agreement was a massively important moment in forging peace in Ireland, and it must be protected.
Just as I agree with him that nobody wants to go back to a guarded border.
But where I disagree is with his decision to speak out now.
He’s not the President yet; Donald Trump remains the man in the White House until January 20.
And just as Trump’s own often repeated cack-handed pro-Brexit interventions into the EU debate did more harm than good – and provoked howls of outrage from liberals on both sides of the Atlantic – so Biden’s intervention now will do the same.
I disagree is with Biden’s decision to speak out now. He’s not the President yet; Donald Trump remains the man in the White House until January 20. And just as Trump’s own often repeated cack-handed pro-Brexit interventions into the EU debate did more harm than good – and provoked howls of outrage from liberals on both sides of the Atlantic – so Biden’s intervention now will do the same
In April 2016, Barack Obama, for whom Biden was Vice-President at the time, warned – just two months before the Referendum – that Britain would be ‘back of the queue’ for any US trade deal if we voted to Leave. Obama’s comments ignited fury and his astonishingly clumsy threat is thought to have played a not insignificant factor in both cementing and actually increasing the Leave vote
Lest he be in any doubt about this, let me take him back to April 2016 when Barack Obama, for whom Biden was Vice-President at the time, warned – just two months before the Referendum – that Britain would be ‘back of the queue’ for any US trade deal if we voted to Leave.
Obama’s comments ignited fury and his astonishingly clumsy threat is thought to have played a not insignificant factor in both cementing and actually increasing the Leave vote.
The British, like Americans, don’t appreciate being bullied by a foreign power.
Now it’s happening all over again, with Joe Biden trying to dictate how the Brexit deal is concluded, before he’s even taken the oath of office.
I’ve read considerable visceral fury on social media today from Brexiters incandescent that the President-Elect is poking his nose into the negotiations at such a vital time, and clearly trying to influence them.
And I have sympathy with that anger.
Can you imagine how Americans would react if a British Prime Minister tried to tell them how to control their border?
Butt out, Mr Biden – this is none of your business.