President Biden’s 17-car motorcade charges through Cornish town

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Joe Biden’s 17-vehicle motorcade charged through a sleepy Cornish town in the middle of the night, complete with a bulletproof limo, anti-IED jamming truck, an ambulance and dozens of heavily armed Security Service agents. 

Videos shared on social media show the enormous US cavalcade hurtling through the southern English town ahead of the President’s face-to-face meeting with Prime Minister Boris Johnson today.

Mr Biden and First Lady Jill Biden rode a bulletproof limo rather than helicopter to the four-star Carbis Bay Hotel, where the couple stayed last night, due to bad weather, MailOnline understands.

However, they do not appear to be riding the usual Beast, the famous seven-seat black stretched Cadillac limousine which is designed to give presidents and their families ultimate protection.  

The President’s huge security detail includes dozens of Security Service agents, who can be seen riding several large vehicles, and USSS Electronic Countermeasures Suburban, the jamming truck which is used to counter guided attacks such as IEDs, rocket-propelled grenades, and anti-tank guided missiles.   

Mr Biden landed in RAF Mildenhall, Suffolk yesterday evening, and addressed US Air Force personnel stationed in Britain at the start of his first foreign trip as president before flying to Newquay Airport in Cornwall. 

Today Mr Biden will leave St Ives for Carbis Bay, where he will meet Mr Johnson and his new wife Carrie Symonds for the first time. Later, the two leaders will have a bilateral at St Michael’s Mount, a 17th-century castle on an island off the coast of Cornwall, where they are tipped to affirm the so-called Special Relationship.

Mr Biden and Mr Johnson are tipped to set up a new Atlantic Charter modelled on the Second World War pact made by Roosevelt and Churchill, and will work to open up Anglo-US travel ‘as soon as possible’.  

There are concerns that the President and the Prime Minister will not get along easily, with Biden allies questioning whether Mr Johnson is an ‘ally’ after he sought close ties with Donald Trump. Mr Biden himself had accused the premier of being a ‘physical and emotional clone’ of his controversial predecessor. 

The President has also sparked fury among senior Brexiteers after he threatened to torpedo British chances of a sweeping new free trade deal with the US if Mr Johnson did not refrain from ‘inflaming tensions’ over the Northern Ireland Protocol, an agreement made with the EU over the province’s economic status.

Under the terms of the protocol, Northern Ireland has effectively remained in the EU Single Market and is bound by the rules of the customs union. However, tensions between Britain and Brussels have flared over the flow of UK-produced chilled meats to Northern Ireland, dubbed the ‘sausage war’. 

Swinging heavily on one side, the President used his diplomats to ‘strongly urge’ Britain to ‘stay cool’ and reach an agreement with the EU, even if that meant making ‘unpopular compromises’ – thought to be political ones.

He even seemed to threaten the possibility of a future trade deal, claiming that Britain accepting demands to stick to EU agricultural rules would mean the issue would not ‘negatively affect the chances’ of making a pact.     

The President and his wife Jill left Washington on Wednesday morning and landed at Royal Air Force Mildenhall to address US Air Force personnel stationed in Britain. At the start of his speech he told the standing troops to sit by saying ‘at ease’, then said: ‘I keep forgetting I am president’.

During his address, he said he would be meeting with Mr Putin to ‘let him know what I want him to know’; told the crowd that ‘global warming’ is the biggest threat to the US; teared up as he paid tribute to his late veteran son Beau; and boasted that ‘America is back’.

When Mr Biden meets the Prime Minister today at St Michael’s Mount, a 17th-century castle on an island just off the coast of Cornwall, he is tipped to set up a new ‘Atlantic Charter’ modelled on the post-Second World War pact made by FDR and Winston Churchill, and will work to open up travel between the US and UK ‘as soon as possible’.

But the US President has ordered his officials to issue a rare diplomatic rebuke to the British Government for its continued opposition to checks at Northern Irish ports.

Yael Lempert, charge d’affaires at the US Embassy in London, told Brexit Minister Lord Frost the UK’s stance was imperilling the peace process. She had been ordered to issue the diplomatic rebuke, known as a demarche, a step rarely taken between allies, The Times said.

They are often issued alongside a summons for the country’s ambassador to attend the Foreign Office.

Government minutes from June 3 reveal Lord Frost was told of President Biden’s ‘great concern’ in a tense encounter in which Ms Lempert is said to have ‘slowly and gravely read her instructions aloud’.

She is said to have implied the UK had been ‘inflaming the rhetoric’ and asked if the Government would ‘keep it cool’. She also warned the dispute between Britain and the EU was ‘commanding the attention’ of Mr Biden ahead of his meeting with the PM today. 

The memo said the US ‘strongly urged’ Britain to come to a ‘negotiated settlement’ even if it meant ‘unpopular compromises’. But Ms Lempert, who is America’s most senior diplomat in Britain, said that if the UK could accept demands to follow EU rules on agricultural standards, Mr Biden would ensure the matter ‘wouldn’t negatively affect the chances of reaching a US/UK free trade deal.’

The rebuke came as crunch talks between Britain and Brussels over sausage imports failed to make a breakthrough. European Commission vice-president Maros Sefcovic threatened to retaliate if the UK takes unilateral action to continue the flow of British-produced chilled meats to Northern Ireland.  

Senior Brexiteers have blasted Mr Biden for failing to side with Britain in its ‘sausage war’ trade row with the EU over Northern Ireland, with one astonishingly branding the President ‘senile’.  

DUP leader Edwin Boots lashed out at Mr Biden, accusing him of trying to drive ‘a coach and horses through the Good Friday Agreement’ that guarantees sectarian peace in Northern Ireland’.

Mr Poots, who wants the Northern Ireland Protocol removed, told the BBC: ‘This is effectively a constitutional change. Would president Biden for example allow Alaska, which is separate and distinct from the rest of the land block of the USA, but still part of the USA, to be taking laws from Canada, and have its laws applied from Canada?’

And an anonymous Tory MP told Politico:  ‘America should remember who their allies are… unfortunately he’s (Biden) so senile that he probably won’t remember what we tell him anyway. Unless an aide is listening I’m not sure he’s going to remember for very long.’      

The row now seems certain to overshadow talks between Mr Johnson and Mr Biden today ahead of the G7 meeting of world leaders in Cornwall. Mr Biden arrived in the UK with huge fanfare last night. 

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said on Thursday that the protocol was the ‘one and only solution’ to avoid a hard border on the island of Ireland and that she still saw ‘fundamental gaps’ in Britain’s implementation of it.

EU institution leaders will use the summit to tell Mr Johnson that Britain and the EU had both agreed the protocol governing Northern Ireland trade arrangements and that Britain must apply it and not make unilateral changes.

‘We will discuss that in a trilateral meeting in Cornwall together. We are determined to do everything to keep peace and stability on the island of Ireland. It is important that there is deep respect for the protocol,’ von der Leyen told a news conference. 

A ban affecting goods including burgers and chicken nuggets is due to come into force at the end of this month when a grace period expires.

Long-standing Eurosceptic Tory John Redwood today said: ‘If President Biden wishes to back a good outcome on the island of Ireland he needs to press the EU to respect the UK internal market and the views of the majority in Northern Ireland. It is the EU disrupting trade.’

Mr Sefcovic warned that the EU’s patience with the UK over its implementation of post-Brexit border rules in the Northen Ireland Protocol governing trade was ‘wearing very, very thin’.

Speaking at a press conference in London after three-and-a-half hours of talks with Lord Frost, he claimed Brussels had shown ‘enormous patience’ with Britain.Mr Sefcovic said relations with the UK were ‘at a crossroads’ – and warned that Brussels was ready to launch retaliatory action if Mr Johnson extends the grace period.

‘Of course, as you would understand, the fact that I mentioned that we are at a crossroads means that our patience really is wearing very, very thin, and therefore we have to assess all options we have at our disposal,’ he added.

‘I was talking about the legal action, I was talking about arbitration, and of course I’m talking about the cross-retaliation.’

Mr Sefcovic said the EU ‘will not be shy’ in launching retaliation. He declined to set out the exact measures Brussels was willing to take, but suggested it could include retaliatory tariffs and quotas on British exports or ‘non-co-operation’ in areas like financial services.

The PM had said that his Brexit deal would not require any additional checks on goods traded between Northern Ireland and the rest of the UK. But Mr Sefcovic said proper implementation of the deal would require ‘many checks’.

In a calculated barb, he suggested ministers may not have fully understood the consequences of the deal they were signing. ‘When the agreement was being negotiated it might be that our British partners could not fully estimate the consequences of the Brexit they had chosen – what it would mean to leave the single market and customs union, how complex it would be for business and government,’ he said.

Mr Sefcovic conceded that British meat products had been produced to the same standards as those in the EU for decades. But he said there was ‘no guarantee’ this would continue and claimed the import of sausages from the UK could cause ‘public health’ problems in the future. He said the EU had offered a deal which would solve ’80 per cent of the problems’. This would involve the UK agreeing to align with EU standards on the relevant products – an idea the PM has ruled out. Mr Sefcovic said this could be on a ‘temporary’ basis, with the UK allowed to renegotiate if it strikes a major trade deal with the US.

Lord Frost insisted there is still time to reach an agreement before the current ‘grace period’ for chilled meats ends, but said the UK will consider ‘all options’ if it proves impossible.

A senior source later confirmed that includes the option of extending the grace period unilaterally. 

‘The PM has been pretty clear that he can’t see a reason why we shouldn’t be able to sell the British banger in Northern Ireland. The biosecurity risk is zero.’ 

EU officials say without an agreement by July 1, there should be no fresh meat that moves from the British mainland to the province. 

At their arrival on Wednesday night, Joe and Jill Biden received a warm welcome at the base, garnering several rounds of applause. They spoke outdoors as the sun set behind them. Both Bidens wore face masks but took them off to speak. 

President Biden also mentioned his late son Beau, a major in the Delaware Army National Guard. He teared up as he thanked military personnel the Royal Air Force Mildenhall for their service.

‘I wish my major was here to thank you as well,’ he said referencing his late son, who died of brain cancer in 2015.  ‘You’re the best of our country,’ he added.

He also outlined the goals of his trip and the message he wanted to give to world:  ‘The United States is back and the democracies of the world are standing together to face the toughest challenges.’

Biden said during his meetings with fellow leaders, he would focus on COVID, climate change, and on protecting themselves from ‘the growing threat of ransomware attacks…[and] the autocrats who are letting it happen.’

After his G7 meeting, Biden will meet in Brussels with NATO and EU leaders, where the Russian and Chinese threats will top the agenda.  

After his remarks, Biden left the stage to shake hands with service members. Before the president spoke, Jill Biden admonished him to focus when she addressed the troops.

‘Joe pay attention,’ the first lady told the president. She had just told the service members to sit down. President Biden, standing behind her, turned around to see the troops positioned behind the stage.

That was when the first lady asked chided him to watch her as she addressed Air Force personnel at Royal Air Force Mildenhall.

In her brief remarks, the first lady thanked the troops for their service and touted her Joining Forces initiative – a group she formed with then-first lady Michelle Obama to support families of American troops. 

‘I hope that you know how special you are. And we are so grateful for your and your family’s service,’ she said.