After years of anti-British jokes, President Joe Biden hailed his links to England during a visit to the North Island on Wednesday as he attempted to walk a tightrope through sectarian politics in Belfast.
Pro-London union leaders accused the famously pro-Ireland president of sidelining their views when he arrived to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the peace deal that ended years of violence between the two sides.
Biden used a speech celebrating peace to talk about his British roots for once.
He described how a former British ambassador to Washington presented him with a book showing a British officer in his quarters with a bulldog during the nineteenth century.
“And his name was Captain George Biden,” the president said, describing how his predecessor went on to write the Royal Navy’s rules on mutiny.
After years of anti-British jokes, President Joe Biden hailed his links to Britain during a visit to Belfast on Wednesday as he attempted to walk a tightrope across the city’s sectarian divide.
While Biden has much of his Irish ancestry, a good portion of his relatives were English
The ambassador added, he was “always joking with me.. He was saying why are you talking about the Irish. He said you were English. Remember that?”
He said Robinette—a family name—may have originally come from France but arrived as his family name through relatives from Nottingham, England.
“So I don’t know what the hell is going on,” he said.
It was a marked change for Biden who then travels to the Republic of Ireland to visit two counties where his ancestors lived.
Earlier officials had to fend off accusations that his history of speaking about his Irish connections meant he was anti-British.
This is a hot issue in Northern Ireland, which has been riven by violence as mainly Catholic Republicans fought for the right to unite with the Republic of Ireland, while Protestant Loyalists mostly fought to remain part of the United Kingdom.
The 1998 Good Friday Agreement in Belfast ended decades of fighting known as The Troubles.
But Biden arrived amid a political deadlock as hardline unionists refused to allow a power-sharing government to operate.
They were suspicious of Biden’s intentions, and accused him of being anti-British.
He once jokingly refused to speak to a BBC reporter because he was Irish, and offended Protestants in the province by suggesting that anyone wearing orange should not be welcome at St Patrick’s Day celebrations. (Protestants identify with the color orange.)
The result was union demands that Biden not get involved in local politics.
As Ian Paisley Jr., of the hardline Democratic Unionist Party, told TalkTV, “The poor slave is unfortunately quite fallible,” adding, “It would be like a Frenchman coming to you and telling you what to do in England.”
They were already on high alert for any hint of bias.
But the bulk of Biden’s speech was a celebration of how the peace agreement transformed Belfast from war-torn to a prosperous state.
“You can’t have a glass building like that here in this neighbourhood,” he said of the new Ulster University building.
I don’t think I don’t think it would have held up very well. But things change.
He said it was very important for the new generations not to forget the hard work of making peace.
During his speech at the University of Ulster, he expressed hope for a return to power-sharing in Northern Ireland, and said that stable government could bring an economic windfall for the region.
Biden met with Representative James Martin, after referring to him during the speech. Martin, who has Down syndrome, was one of the stars of the Academy Award-winning short film An Irish Goodbye
From left, US Ambassador to the UK Jane Hartley, Valerie Biden Owens, Hunter Biden, and US Special Envoy for Northern Ireland Joe Kennedy III listen to the speech
Biden started his day with a meeting with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak
“It is an incredible testament to the power and potential of peace… 25 years ago this week the Belfast Agreement was signed on Good Friday. And it has not been easy.
He cautiously backed away from any suggestion that he was pushing one side or the other out of the rut.
“So I hope the general assembly and executives will be restored soon,” he said. This is a judgment you must not make me. But I hope that will happen.
Earlier, officials were asked if it was fair to say the famous Irish-American president was anti-British.
“I think the president’s record shows that he is not anti-British,” she said during a briefing with reporters.
However, Biden does have a history of making anti-British jokes, often describing his mother’s hostility to the United Kingdom and its crown.
Sloat gave examples of cooperation between the Biden administration and London.
“The UK remains one of our strongest and closest allies,” she said.
And it’s hard, frankly, to think of an issue in the world that we don’t cooperate closely with the British on, which is why the President wanted him to have the opportunity to catch up with Prime Minister Sunak this morning to start his day here in Belfast.
The brevity of his stay in Northern Ireland has infuriated local chiefs, who wonder if it was part of a strategy to reduce the chances of him being wrong.
And with only 17 hours in Belfast before heading off on a genealogical tour of Ireland, Sloat was asked if the visit was really a taxpayer-funded family reunion.
Biden was seen disembarking Air Force One on the tarmac at RAF Aldergrove Base in County Antrim on Tuesday night at the start of his four-day trip.
Crowds gathered outside the Belfast city center hotel where Biden was staying on Wednesday
Police placed a ring of steel around the downtown hotel where Biden stayed Tuesday night
“It is not surprising that I would argue with this characterization,” she said froze, before enumerating the engagements with the British Prime Minister and the official events to celebrate the Good Friday Convention in Belfast.
Northern Ireland’s government has not sat down for nearly a year, amid a row over post-Brexit trade arrangements.
While trade regulations have been reformed, the DUP refuses to return to power-sharing institutions.
The impasse takes some of the shine off the visit, which began a day after young Republicans clashed with police in Derry.
Biden arrived in Belfast amid a major police operation, the largest in the province’s past 10 years.
About 300 officers were recruited from elsewhere in the UK to bolster the numbers, with the total cost coming to £7 million (about $8.7 million).
Biden previously said on Twitter: “25 years ago, Northern Ireland’s leaders chose peace.
The Belfast/Good Friday Agreement ended decades of violence and brought stability. I look forward to celebrating the anniversary in Belfast, and reaffirming the United States’ commitment to preserving peace and promoting prosperity.
