US President Joe Biden has sparked a row over comments he made in relation to his recent visit to Ireland.
Biden visited Northern Ireland in April to mark 25 years of the Good Friday Agreement before continuing his trip to the Republic of Ireland afterwards.
At the Democratic National Committee Reception in New York on Thursday, Biden made a comment that he visited Ireland to ‘make sure the Brits didn’t screw around’.
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“But all kidding aside, the basic fundamental values that I find is that most ethnic communities are similar,” President Biden said at the event.
“And one of the things — I got to go back — not what I had planned on talking about, but I got to go back to Ireland for the — for the — the Irish Accords, to make sure they weren’t — the Brits didn’t screw around and Northern Ireland didn’t walk away from their commitments.”
Biden had met with UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak during his brief visit to Belfast last month and said his top priority was to ‘make sure the Irish accords and the Windsor Agreement stay in place.’
However, the US President’s comments have sparked outarge from some, including DUP MP Sammy Wilson.
“It’s unbelievable and frightening as well to think this is the man who is the leader of the free world,” Wilson told the Evening Standard.
“If you believe that there should be a special relationship between the US and UK then at least show us some respect.”
Biden had previously been criticised by Wilson and former DUP leader Arlene Foster, the latter of which said the US President ‘hates the UK’ , a claim that was rejected by the White House.
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