West End Final Newsletter: Mr Johnson Goes to Washington (and confirms how many children he has)

West End Final
Jack Kessler @jackkessler121 September 2021
WEST END FINAL

Get our award-winning daily news email featuring exclusive stories, opinion and expert analysis

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

Former US citizen, father of six and current UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is set to meet with President Joe Biden later today at the White House.

Will they display the same bonhomie as Lindsay Hoyle and Nancy Pelosi at the G7 Speakers Summit over the weekend? Well, Johnson’s already been rolling the proverbial pitch, calling Biden “a breath of fresh air“ compared with his predecessor.

Climate will be at the front of mind. Johnson likes to bring the issue up as often as possible not only because Glasgow is hosting COP26 in November, but to remind the President he is not “Britain Trump“.

The PM will be hoping to convince Biden, amongst others, to increase the level of funding to support low-income nations fight climate change. Rich countries have already pledged to provide $100 billion a year, but are yet to meet that figure.

The two leaders are also set to discuss a UK-US trade deal, though Johnson appears to have taken expectation management classes, insisting it is more important to get a good deal than a quick deal, which has not always been his modus operandi.

Former Bill Clinton advisor James Carville once said that if there were reincarnation he wanted to come back as the bond market, because you can intimidate everybody. The US Trade Representative would surely come a close second.

Elsewhere in the paper, following the announced lifting of the US travel ban, Number 10 said it was ‘confident’ people given AstraZeneca vaccine would be let in despite the jab not being recognised by the US medicines regulator.

In the comment pages, Nimco Ali writes that Labour MP Rosie Duffield should be able to disagree with party policy without fearing for her safety. While London’s Transport Commissioner Andy Byford says we should look to Battersea to see London’s potential.

And finally, the secret to eternal happiness? A meaningless life, apparently. Mindful nihilism is all about seeing yourself as an insignificant cog in the universe’s big picture — and it works, proclaims Rosie Fitzmaurice.

This article appears in our newsletter, West End Final – delivered 4pm daily – bringing you the very best of the paper, from culture and comment to features and sport.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in