Joe Biden says ‘I’ll tell Mr Putin what I want him to know’ in rallying speech before touching down in Cornwall
JOE BIDEN gave a rallying speech to US troops stationed in Britain last night, saying: "I'll tell Mr Putin what I want him to know".
The President declared the US-UK alliance was the “strongest military and political alliance in the history of the world” during the first stop on his European tour.
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Mr Biden arrived at RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk yesterday afternoon, before touching down in Newquay at 11.45pm ahead of the G7 summit in Cornwall on Friday.
And in preparation for the diplomatic talks, the President told military personnel that Russia's Putin would sternly be told "what I want him to know."
He said on Wednesday evening: "This is my first overseas trip as President of the United States.
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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.
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.
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.
But despite the "strong" links with the UK, Biden embarrassingly called the Royal Air Force the 'RFA' in a major gaffe during his first-ever speech as President on British soil.
Instead of referencing Britain's RAF, the 78-year-old said: "These partnerships have been hardened in the fire of war.
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"Generations of Americans and service members fought them. Like the original Bloody Hundredth, and those RFA pilots."
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."
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.
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".
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.