London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Feb 19, 2026

Boris Johnson says dealing with Joe Biden is ‘a breath of fresh air’

Boris Johnson says dealing with Joe Biden is ‘a breath of fresh air’

British prime minister Boris Johnson says working with President Joe Biden has been "a breath of fresh air," particularly on the issue of climate change.
British prime minister Boris Johnson says working with President Joe Biden has been "a breath of fresh air" compared to the previous administration when it comes to one issue in particular.

Johnson spoke to Savannah Guthrie about a range of topics in an exclusive interview on TODAY Tuesday ahead of his United Nations meetings and his first visit to the White House under Biden's presidency.

Asked about his close relationship with former President Donald Trump, Johnson said the U.K. prime minister and U.S. president are "fated to get along," which applies to Trump and now Biden.

"But what I will say about Joe Biden and dealing with the new American president, yes, it is a breath of fresh air in the sense of the some things on which we can really really work together, and you knew I was gonna bring it up — climate change — he’s great on that," Johnson said. "And he wants to cut CO². He wants to get to net zero by 2050, and he shares with me, a basic view that you can do this without penalizing the economy."

Trump openly mocked climate change, calling it "a hoax" and rolling back dozens of environmental rules and regulations.

Johnson also spoke out forcefully against the riot at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, but did not indicate how that affected his relationship with Trump.

"I think America stands for an ideal, and that ideal is that people should be able to choose their governments peacefully," he said. "One person, one vote, by election.

"I just felt that some of the scenes at the Capitol didn’t wholly correspond with that ideal."

He refused to say whether he felt Trump was to blame for inciting the riot.

"I have no knowledge of what happened, but what I think is that, let me put it this way, my admiration for American democracy is undimmed by the whole thing," he said.

Johnson also addressed the U.S. troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, which drew criticism from both sides of the aisle for being mismanaged. However, many lawmakers also acknowledged it was time to bring an end to a 20-year war.

"The U.K. owes a big debt to the U.S. military for the incredible professionalism and sacrifice that they showed at that airport, at the International Airport," Johnson said. "It was an amazing operation.

"It’s never going to be an easy thing to do to pull out of somewhere like Afghanistan after 20 years in a clean and straightforward way. But you can’t you can’t spend your whole time trying to run another country by proxy. I think that it was a massive logistical success what they did."

Johnson was aware that there was a chance the U.S.-backed government in Kabul could swiftly fall to the Taliban, which happened in a matter of days. He said he talked "frankly" with Biden about the operation.

"There was a spectrum of advice, a spectrum of predictions from the intelligence people, amongst which was the possibility that Kabul would collapse very fast and that the Taliban would would take over very fast," he said. "Of course you're going to look back on it with mixed feelings."

Many members of Congress have also expressed concern over the plight of women and girls in Afghanistan, whose advances under the previous government could be wiped out by the repressive Taliban regime.

"I agree, and it’s a terrible thing now to listen to some of the threats that we’re hearing to their potential, their freedom, their opportunities," Johnson said. "But what we’ve got to do is work together as the West, to say to the new authorities in Afghanistan, in Kabul, 'Look, you want our cash? We want to engage with you, but Afghanistan can't be a breeding ground for terror anymore.'"

In Johnson's mind, it was time for the U.S. to pull its military forces.

"America has been there for 20 years, and it’s a respectable argument to say that enough is enough," he said. "Could we have done it a bit differently? Maybe we could."
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
UK Inflation Slows Sharply in January, Strengthening Case for Bank of England Rate Cut
UK Inflation Falls to Ten-Month Low, Markets Anticipate Interest Rate Cut
UK House Prices Climb 2.4% in December as Market Shows Signs of Stabilisation
BAE Systems Predicts Sustained Expansion as Defence Orders Reach Record High
Pro-Palestine Activists Cleared of Burglary Charges Over Break-In at UK Israeli Arms Facility
Former Reform UK Councillors Form New Local Group Amid Party Fragmentation
Reform UK Pledges to Retain Britain’s Budget Watchdog as It Seeks Broader Economic Credibility
Miliband Defends UK-California Clean Energy Pact After Sharp Criticism by Trump
University of Kentucky to Host 2026 Summer Camps Fair Connecting Families with Local Programmes
UK Police Forces Assess Claims Jeffrey Epstein Used Stansted Airport Flights in Trafficking Network
UK-Focused Equity ETF FLGB Climbs to Fresh 52-Week Peak on Strong Market Sentiment
Trump Warns UK’s Chagos Islands Agreement Is a “Big Mistake” Amid Strategic Security Debate
Trump Urges UK to Retain Sovereignty Over Diego Garcia Amid Strategic Concerns
Italian Police Arrest Man After Alleged Attempt to Abduct Toddler at Bergamo Supermarket, Child Hospitalised With Fractured Femur
Rupert Lowe wanted to deport rape gangs and the communities who protected them
Reform UK Appoints Former Conservative Minister Robert Jenrick as Finance Chief
UK Unemployment Rises to Highest in Nearly Five Years as Labour Market Weakens
Rupert Lowe Advocates for English-Only Use in the UK
US Successfully Transports Small Nuclear Reactor from California to Utah
South Korea's traditional sand wrestling sport ssireum faces declining interest at home
Japan outlawed Islam
Virginia Giuffre accuses Epstein of trafficking to powerful men for blackmail.
New Mexico lawmakers initiate investigation into Zorro Ranch linked to Jeffrey Epstein
British Tourist Arrested at Hong Kong Airport After Meltdown and Vandalism
The Spanish government has ordered prosecutors to investigate platforms X, Meta and TikTok for allegedly spreading AI-generated child sexual abuse material
European Commission Plans Purchase Incentives Limited to Vehicles Manufactured Largely in the EU
French District of Pas-de-Calais Introduces Immediate License Suspension for Drivers Using Mobile Phones
Volkswagen Targets €60 Billion in Cost Reductions as Sales Decline and Global Pressures Intensify
Nigel Farage Names Reform UK Frontbench Team and Signals Zero Tolerance for Internal Dissent
Qualcomm to Withdraw UK Lawsuit Over Smartphone Chip Royalty Dispute
Major UK Banks Explore Domestic Card Network to Rival Visa and Mastercard
Cold Health Alert Issued Across UK as Temperatures Drop Sharply
Nine-Year-Old Becomes First Child in UK to Undergo Groundbreaking Leg-Lengthening Surgery
UK Workers Face Stagnant Incomes and a Softening Labour Market as Unemployment Climbs
UK Passport Rules Tightened for British Dual Nationals Under New Travel Guidance
California Deepens Global Climate Alliance with New UK Pact and Major Clean-Tech Investment Drive
UK Supreme Court Tightens Rules on Use of ‘Milk’ and ‘Cheese’ Labels for Plant-Based Products
University of Kentucky Postpones Feb. 19 Law Enforcement Training Exercise in Lexington
‘The only thing illegal is Keir Starmer handing these islands to a country like Mauritius!’
JD Vance says Germany is “killing itself” by taking in millions of fake asylum seekers from culturally incompatible nations.
UK Markets Signal Opportunity as Starmer Confronts Intensifying Political Pressure
Trump Criticises Newsom’s UK Climate Pact, Defends Federal Authority Over Foreign Engagements
UK’s Top Prosecutor Says ‘No One Is Above the Law’ as Police Review Claims Against Ex-Prince Andrew
Businessman Adam Brooks weighs in on the reports that the US is set to help Hamit Coskun flee the UK, over free speech concerns
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi Releases 3.5 Million Pages of Jeffrey Epstein Case Files
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio Comment on European allies report blaming Russia for killing late Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny using toxin from poison dart frogs
Eighty-Year-Old Lottery Winner Sentenced to 16.5 Years for Drug Trafficking
UK Quran Burner May Receive Asylum in the US Amid Legal Challenges
Rubio Calls for Sweeping U.N. Reform, Saying It Has Failed to End Wars in Gaza and Ukraine
10,000 Condoms Distributed at Winter Olympics 2026 Athlete Village Depleted Within 72 Hours
×