Joe Biden is “not anti-British,” one of his most senior aides has said in response to accusations by the former Democratic Unionist party leader Arlene Foster that the US president “hates the UK”.
Just hours after he arrived in Belfast, the purpose of Biden’s short visit to Northern Ireland was being questioned by unionists who have been boycotting power-sharing arrangements in Northern Ireland for more than a year, meaning the territory has no devolved government.
At a briefing in Belfast, Amanda Sloat, special assistant to Biden and senior director for Europe at the national security council, denied the president’s Irish heritage made him biased against the British in relation to the continued deadlock over the devolved government in Stormont. She said:
I think the track record of of the president shows that he is not anti-British. The president has been very actively engaged throughout his career dating back to when he was a senator in the peace process in Northern Ireland and that involved engagement with leaders of all of Northern Ireland parties from both of the two main communities.
At a keynote speech at lunch time Biden will be sending out a message underlining the US’s continued support for the peace process in Northern Ireland and his “strong desire” to see enduring economic prosperity and political stability. Sloat said:
I think his message to the DUP and to all the political leaders is going to be … the continued strong support for seeing the peace process move forward here and the strong desire by this president to increase US investment in Northern Ireland to take advantage of the vast economic potential that that seems here, and to reiterate broad support for the returning of the devolved government in Northern Ireland.
Source: The Guardian
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