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Joe Biden jokes he ‘forgets he’s president’ & says US-UK pact is ‘strongest military & political alliance in world’
JOE Biden joked that he "forgets he's President" as he addressed troops after touching down in Britain for his first historic overseas trip.
Speaking to cheering crowds, the President declared that the US-UK alliance was the “strongest military and political alliance in the history of the world.”
Read our Joe Biden UK trip LIVE blog for the latest updates
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Mr Biden arrived at RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk yesterday afternoon, before touching down in Newquay at midnight ahead of the G7 summit in Cornwall on Friday.
Jill Biden kicked off the trip by speaking to US personnel stationed at the Mildenhall airbase in Suffolk - thanking them for their tremendous efforts.
She admonished her husband, snapping
President Biden then took to the stage, addressing the troops and their families and thanking them for the "sacrifices they make."
Biden began his speech by proclaiming "When I was 14..." before he became distracted by the standing crowd.
What's happened so far...
- Jill Biden scolds Joe in UK trip speech and tells president to ‘pay attention’
- Biden jokes ‘I keep forgetting I’m president’ in awkward moment during UK trip after running on stage
- Inside Biden’s £30million G7 ring of steel with warships, The Beast & 400 Secret Service agents watching his every move
- Biden calls the Royal Air Force the ‘RFA’ in major blunder during first ever speech on British soil
- Biden brings £1.2m Cadillac ‘The Beast’… but will it fit down Cornwall’s tiny country lanes?
- Joe Biden gives rallying speech to US troops in Britain and says ‘I’ll tell Mr Putin what I want him to know’
He gestured the large crowd to sit back down by saying "at ease" before joking "I keep forgetting I'm president".
He then said his visit would show that "the United States is back" and democracies are standing together.
The President told military personnel at RAF Mildenhall: "This is my first overseas trip as President of the United States.
"I'm heading to the G7, then to the Nato ministerial and then to meet with Mr Putin to let him know what I want him to know.
"At every point along the way we are going to make it clear that the United States is back and democracies of the world are standing together to tackle the toughest challenges and the issues that matter most to our future."
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Biden told the cheering crowd he would stand for the rights of all people - as the US was founded on an "idea" that "all men and women are created equal."
"No nation can defeat us as long as we stick to our values," he said.
He also highlighted that the relationship between the US and UK is the “strongest military and political alliance in the history of the world”, before adding that it needed to be “modernised” to protect against past threats and new challenges.
The President also made clear that "co-ordinated multilateral action" is needed to tackle climate change ahead of the G7 summit beginning on Friday.
He said: "Over the next few days I'll be participating in meetings with many of our closest partners, the G7 in Cornwall, then off to Brussels and the Nato summit and the EU summit.
"This diplomacy is essential because no single nation acting alone can meet all the challenges we face today because the world is changing."
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Mr Biden added: "To tackle this century's most pressing challenges we have to do it together, we have to end Covid-19, not just at home but everywhere.
"There's no wall high enough to keep us safe from this pandemic or the next biological threat we face, and there will be others.
"It requires co-ordinated multilateral action, we must all commit to an ambitious climate action if we're going to prevent the worst impacts of climate change and global warming."
At the summit on Friday, the President will warn Boris Johnson and the EU not to "imperil" the Northern Ireland peace process, the US president's national security adviser said, as they struggle to resolve a trade row.
Mr Biden will also use the visit to strengthen ties with allies at the G7 summit on Friday - and join efforts to agree on a strategy to vaccinate the world against coronavirus.
He flew into the UK on Air Force One - landing at the US airbase at RAF Mildenhall before heading to Cornwall for Thursday's talks with Boris Johnson and the G7 summit in Carbis Bay.
Ahead of the talks, Mr Biden's national security adviser Jake Sullivan warned that the president harbours "very deep" concerns on the issue provoked by Brexit.
Mr Sullivan said the president believes the post-Brexit Northern Ireland Protocol is "critical" to ensure that the Good Friday Agreement is protected - as Britain and the EU try to resolve the issue of checks in the Irish Sea.
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The adviser told the BBC that both sides must continue with negotiations, adding: "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."
The trip at its core will advance Joe Biden's foreign policy, the national security adviser said - rallying the world's democracies to tackle the great challenges of our time.
Joe Biden is set to visit three countries over eight days in his first overseas venture as the President.
Having succeeded Donald Trump in January, Mr Biden said the trip - which also takes in a Nato meeting and talks with Russia's Vladimir Putin - was aimed at smoothing relations with allies that had been strained under his predecessor.
He told reporters the aim was "strengthening the alliance, making it clear to Putin and China that Europe and the United States are tight".
Mr Biden has promised the meeting with the Prime Minister would "affirm the special relationship between our nations".
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Downing Street said Boris is intending to foster a "close relationship" with Washington.
The PM is hoping to strike a trade deal with the US - but the national security adviser's comments were the latest in a string of warnings about Brexit's impact on Northern Ireland.
Boris Johnson plans to use the summit of leading economies to urge the members - also including Canada, Japan, France, Germany and Italy - to "defeat" Covid by helping to vaccinate the world by the end of next year.
The US President told reporters that he would be announcing a vaccine strategy for the world.
Mr Johnson also wants a new treaty on responding to pandemics after the "pretty scratchy period" where countries were competing and "squabbling" over access to PPE.
The summit would focus on "building back greener, building back better" after the pandemic, he said.
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After the summit ends, the president and first lady will meet the Queen at Windsor Castle.
Mr Biden will then depart for Brussels and later Geneva in Switzerland.
And this is what Joe Biden's £30million G7 ring of steel looks like - with warships, The Beast and 400 Secret Service agents watching his every move.
The armed forces were drafted to help police as world leaders, their entourages and thousands of protesters descend for the three-day summit at Carbis Bay.
HMS Northumberland, a Type 23 frigate, will be positioned off the coast and use its radar system to help police identify potential threats from the air and sea.
More than 50 luxury cars and 400 Secret Service agents touched down at St Mawgan airbase near Newquay ahead of Biden's arrival.
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A Giraffe agile multi-beam radar system has been deployed - which can identify and track targets while providing coastal surveillance.
And there will be 15 explosives search dogs and handlers from the army operating under police command.
The airspace above Cornwall is largely shut - but cops are reserving the option to deploy one of their 18 drones if necessary.
On top this, some 1,000 police will be staying on a cruise liner at Falmouth harbour and in camper vans parked at the RAF base in Newquay.
It had been reported that the world leader was expected to leave the Cadillac ‘The Beast' mega-car in his homeland amid fears they might get stuck in the rural county’s narrow and winding roads.
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Now it's been revealed they were transported into the UK in a Boeing C-17 Globemaster III ahead of the arrival of Air Force One.
The specially built £1.1million Cadillacs both have five inch-thick bulletproof windows capable of withstanding a nuclear, biological or chemical attack.
Encased in ballistic armour and weighing about nine tonnes, each contains a sealed cabin with an oxygen supply and bags of blood matching Biden’s type in case of a medical emergency.
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Anyone foolish enough to grab the cars' door handles without authorisation can expect to be hit with a 120-volt shock delivered at the flick of a switch from those inside.
The cost of policing the summit has been put at £70 million - but Devon and Cornwall police won't be bearing the cost alone, with the drafting of mutual aid officers.
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