Joe Biden Gaffe Sees Rishi Sunak Get A ‘Promotion’

Joe Biden briefly gave Rishi Sunak a “promotion” when the US president got confused over the British prime minister’s title when the pair met in the White House.

Biden welcomed Sunak as “Mr President” at the start of the bilateral meeting –but swiftly corrected himself.

The 80-year-old president, seated across from Sunak, said: “Well, Mr President – Mr President, I just promoted you. Mr Prime Minister, it’s great to have you back.”

Sunak, who appeared to laugh off the error, has not been to the White House before as prime minister, only taking office last October.

It’s not the first time the US president has appeared to fumble his words when Sunak as involved.

Biden last year accidentally called him “Rashi Sanook” when congratulating the newly-installed Conservative Party leader on becoming premier. 

In April, during his visit to the Republic of Ireland, Biden appeared to confuse the name of the New Zealand All Blacks rugby team with the Black and Tans – a controversial War of Independence-era police force in Ireland.

And while he heaped praise on the strength of the UK-US relationship on Thursday, he has not always been so diplomatic.

Last month, he claimed that he visited the island of Ireland to ensure the “Brits didn’t screw around” amid ongoing concern over the peace process and the impact of Brexit.

On Thursday, Biden told Sunak: “In the past few months we have met each other in San Diego and then we met in Belfast and we met in Hiroshima.

“And now we’re here we’re going solve all the problems of the world in the next 20 minutes.”