Guernsey Press

In Pictures: President Joe Biden had strong links with the UK and Ireland

The 46th US president was the second Catholic president and had family roots in Ireland.

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US President Joe Biden’s decision to withdraw his bid for re-election spells the end of a political career that has lasted more than 50 years.

The 46th US president has been a fixture in Washington politics since the 1970s, having served in high-powered roles in the Senate, as vice-president under Barack Obama, before getting the top job after an ugly duel with Donald Trump in the middle of the Covid pandemic.

The second Catholic president had family roots in the UK and, in particular, Ireland, so it was no surprise that he frequently crossed the Atlantic both in Air Force One and, earlier in his career, by other means.

Joe Biden with the King
Joe Biden with the King on a visit to the UK (Kin Cheung/PA)
Queen Elizabeth II funeral
US President Joe Biden arrives for the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II (Andrew Milligan/PA)

Mr Biden had long sought the presidency and in 1988 an unsuccessful run for the Democratic Party nomination was in part halted by plagiarism claims, including that he had incorporated lines used by former Labour Party leader Neil Kinnock into his speeches.

When Mr Obama picked Mr Biden as his running mate in 2008 for his successful White House campaign, he selected a man from Scranton, Pennsylvania, who understood and knew how to communicate with the working class voters that were kingmakers in the swing states.

With a life touched by personal tragedies including the loss of his first wife and a child in a car crash just after he was elected as US senator for Delaware in 1972, tragedy struck again in 2015 with the death of his son Beau Biden.

It was possibly a factor in his decision not to seek the Democratic nomination eventually won by Hillary Clinton.

Four years later he was seen as the only candidate who could prevent a second term for Donald Trump and successfully won an ill-tempered contest carried out against the background of the pandemic.

President Biden visit to the island of Ireland
US President Joe Biden visiting Knock Shrine and Basilica in Mayo with Fr Richard Gibbons (Andrew Downes/Julien Behal/PA)
President Biden visit to the island of Ireland
US President Joe Biden walks with Sabina Higgins at Aras an Uachtarain, in Phoenix Park, Dublin, on day three of his visit to the island of Ireland (Brian Lawless/PA)

His visit to the island of Ireland saw him greeted by large crowds as he noted he was visiting the land of his ancestors.

President Biden visit to the island of Ireland
US President Joe Biden embraces James Martin, who starred in the Oscar winning short film An Irish Goodbye, as he visits Ulster University in Belfast (Aaron Chown/PA)
Queen Elizabeth II death
US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden arrive for a reception hosted by the King at Buckingham Palace (Markus Schreiber/AP)
G7 Summit
Queen Elizabeth II speaks to US President Joe Biden and his wife Jill at a reception at the Eden Project (Jack Hill/The Times/PA)
Brown visits South America
Then prime minister Gordon Brown meets then US vice president Joe Biden (right) (Stefan Rousseau/PA)
G7 Summit
Joe Biden with other world leaders in Cornwall (Leon Neal/PA)

A week earlier he had been in Normandy for the 80th anniversary of D-Day.

And the 75th anniversary summit for Nato gave him a chance to meet another UK Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, the fourth person to occupy that role during Mr Biden’s presidency.

General Election campaign 2024
(Left to right) Foreign Secretary Lord David Cameron, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and US President Joe Biden attending the D-Day 80 International Ceremony at Omaha Beach, Normandy (Abaca Press/Alamy Stock/PA)
Sir Keir Starmer meets US President Joe Biden at the White House
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer meets US President Joe Biden at the White House in Washington DC, during his visit to the US to attend the Nato 75th anniversary summit (Stefan Rousseau/PA)
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