Biden's UK visit puts focus back on ties

Hosting US president, Johnson will stress special bond but priorities likely to differ

The signs were good when Joe Biden took over as president of the United States that the so-called traditional special relationship between his country and the United Kingdom had not been irreparably damaged.

In spite of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's closeness to Biden's predecessor, Donald Trump, and damage done to sectarian disputes on the island of Ireland by the UK's exit from the European Union, to say nothing of Brexit itself, Biden immediately announced his first overseas visit as president would be to the UK. That event starts on Thursday.

After his victory in November, Biden was understood to have telephoned Johnson before any other European leader. The call, according to Johnson's spokesman, included talk about "the benefits of a potential free-trade deal".

That call, and Biden's eagerness for a face-to-face meeting, will doubtless have been most welcome to Johnson, who must have feared an icy exchange.

Now, with Biden expected in the UK for both his meeting with Johnson and for a G7 summit set for Friday to Sunday, London will, doubtless, be doing all it can to ensure the special relationship goes from strength to strength.

The White House agrees it will be a focus, saying the trip will "affirm the enduring strength of the special relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom".

But, while Johnson will undoubtedly want to talk about that relationship, he will be keen to get down to the specifics of a future free-trade agreement in the wake of the UK's voluntary exit from the European Union in January and the resulting falls in imports and exports.