'Joe, pay attention!' Jill jokingly scolds the President while she's speaking to US troops stationed in the UK at the start of their eight-day Europe trip
Jill Biden admonished her husband Joe to pay attention when she addressed American troops in the United Kingdom Wednesday night.
'Joe pay attention,' the first lady told the president. She was giving remarks as the president interacted with the crowd of Air Force personnel at Royal Air Force Mildenhall.
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.
Biden and his wife Jill, a university professor, touched down at RAF Mildenhall, Suffolk in Air Force One just after 7.30pm, kicking off the president's eight-day trip to Europe.
The UK stop will include this week's G7 summit as well as face-to-face meetings with the Queen and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
Biden's packed scheduled also includes meetings with NATO leaders and EU leaders in Brussels. His trip will be capped off with a sit down with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Geneva next week.
For his first event, Biden will meet US military personnel stationed at the base before heading to Carbis Bay near St Ives, where the leaders of Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Japan and Canada will gather for three days to discuss the pandemic and climate change among other issues.
Biden is scheduled to meet with Johnson for face-to-face talks Thursday - the first time the two men will have met in person - before the G7 Summit formally gets underway on Friday.
When the summit ends on Sunday, the President and First Lady will meet the Queen at Windsor Castle.
Biden will then depart for Brussels where he will attend a NATO summit and a joint US-EU summit before then heading to Geneva for a bilateral showdown with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
In an op-ed for the Washington Post, Biden said that the trip is about 'realising America's renewed commitment to our allies and partners' as he attempts to build bridges with Britain and the EU after some leaders including German Chancellor Angela Merkel clashed with his predecessor Donald Trump.
The Republican president engaged in a bitter trade row with the EU and slammed NATO members for failing to spend more on defense - sparking fears that he would pull the US out of the military alliance and embolden Russian activity in Ukraine and eastern Europe.
Trump also formally withdrew the US from the Iran nuclear deal and the Paris Agreement - both negotiated by Barack Obama. One of Biden's first acts as President was to rejoin the climate accord and reopen nuclear talks with the Iranian government, as he sought to reverse the actions of the previous administration.
The White House has said that Biden will meet with Johnson to 'affirm the special relationship between our nations' - a term which the prime minister reportedly dislikes because it is 'too needy'.
Whitehall is understood to have viewed the President's decision to make the UK his first overseas destination as a major diplomatic victory for Johnson.
Jill Biden admonished husband Joe to pay attention during her speech during her Air Force personnel at Royal Air Force Mildenhall
The Prime Minister has lavished praise on Biden since he won power in the election last year, in the hope of striking a new free trade deal with the US.
However, there are concerns that he and the President may not get along, after Democratic sources previously questioned whether Johnson was an 'ally'.
Johnson had sought close relations with Trump, causing Biden to call him a 'physical and emotional clone' of the controversial Republican president.
Johnson faced fierce domestic criticism over his relationship with Trump, but has defended the ties and has insisted that prime ministers should always have the 'best possible' ties with sitting US presidents.
There has also been speculation Johnson and Biden could struggle to work together because of the Prime Minister's past criticism of Barack Obama, in whose administration Biden served as vice president.
Biden is also expected to put pressure on the UK not to renege on the Northern Ireland Brexit Protocol in a bid to preserve the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. US concerns about the province's trade status could even derail efforts to strike an Anglo-US trade deal.
National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told the BBC: 'President Biden believes and has said that the Northern Ireland Protocol, as part of the agreement between the UK and the European Union, is critical to ensuring that the spirit, promise and future of the Good Friday Agreement is protected.
'That being said, of course the UK and EU need to work out the specifics and the modalities on that, need to find some way to proceed that works both for the EU and the UK. But whatever way they find to proceed must, at its core, fundamentally protect the gains of the Good Friday Agreement and not imperil that.
'And that is the message that President Biden will send when he is in Cornwall.'
However, there were positive signs in March of the 'special relationship' warming up after Biden's climate envoy John Kerry visited London for talks with Johnson. The positive trend continued in May when US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Washington has 'no closer partner' than the UK.
President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden disembark from Air Force One as they arrive at RAF Mildenhall ahead of the G7 Summit
Biden will address troops at RAF Maidenhall
President Biden is kicking off an eight-day trip to Europe, first lady Jill Biden will be with him for the UK portion
Air Force One carrying U.S. President Joe Biden lands at RAF (Royal Air Force) Mildenhall as he arrives ahead of the G7 Summit, near Mildenhall, Suffolk
Military personnel on a roof at RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk, before the arrival of US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden
Photographers take pictures behind a fence of RAF (Royal Air Force) Mildenhall ahead of the arrival of U.S. President Joe Biden, near Mildenhall, Suffolk
A man stands on top of his car as he waits for the arrival of U.S. President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden in Air Force One at RAF Mildenhall
Plane spotters take pictures of an airplane at RAF (Royal Air Force) Mildenhall ahead of the arrival of U.S. President Joe Biden
President Joe Biden and first lady Jill left the White House on Wednesday on the way to Cornwall where they will meet Boris Johnson and attend the G7, before a meeting with the Queen and his summit with Vladimir Putin
President Biden brushes a cicada from his neck as he and Jill board Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Base
Surfers enjoy the waves as a Royal Navy ship is seen, as security preparations are underway for the G7 summit, near St Ives
Preparations remain ongoing ahead of the G7 summit in Carbis Bay later this week. A Royal Navy vessel is pictured off the coast of Cornwall on June 8
The mini-village built near Cripplesease, near St Ives, to house and feed the security needed for the G7 Summit this weekend
Left: Security patrol a railway line ahead of the G7. Right: Police and military scuba-divers preparing for the summit
Venue for meeting with Boris: The Presidnet and Prime Minister will meet at St Michael's Mount, pictured on Tuesday as United States Marine Corps (USMC) Osprey helicopters from Biden's entourage practice their approach
Prime Minister Boris Johnson pictured arriving at Newquay Airport ahead of the G7 summit, which begins on Friday
Boris Johnson and Grant Shapps view the LauncherOne at the Spaceport at Newquay Airport ahead of the G7 Summit
An RAF Giraffe agile multibeam radar system is set up near the beach in Cornwall ahead of the G7 Summit
A 400-strong contingent of Secret Service agents and support staff are due to arrive for the summit being hosted by Boris Johnson and held in the tiny Cornish resort of Carbis Bay. President Biden is believed to be staying in the Tregenna hotel
Police continue their checks in Carbis Bay, Cornwall as world leaders gather to discuss the pandemic and climate change
Armed British police land on Carbis Bay beach early on Tuesday morning as security teams practice ahead of the summit
Biden will join others from the G7 group of leading economies in Carbis Bay on Friday, where Devon and Cornwall Police are expecting climate protests.
Johnson plans to use the summit to urge the members - also including Canada, Japan, France, Germany and Italy - to 'defeat' Covid-19 by helping to vaccinate the world by the end of next year.
The White House said in April when it confirmed the trip to Europe that Biden will 'highlight his commitment to restoring our alliances, revitalizing the Transatlantic relationship, and working in close cooperation with our allies and multilateral partners to address global challenges and better secure America's interests'.
During an official visit to the UK, Blinken said that the 'special relationship' is 'enduring', 'effective' and 'dynamic' as well as being 'close to the hearts of the American people'.
Speaking at a press conference in Downing Street alongside Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, Blinken said: 'It is also the 75th anniversary of Winston Churchill's famous speech at Westminster College in Missouri where he described the Special Relationship between the United Kingdom and the United States and how vital it is for our two countries and many others around the world.
'Three quarters of a century later, that Special Relationship is enduring, it is effective, it is dynamic and it is close to the hearts of the American people. The United States has no closer ally, no closer partner, than the United Kingdom and I am very glad for the chance to say that again here today.'
The President's security team for the Summit is reportedly so vast they will have to stay in more than 50 hired luxury camper vans because there is not enough accommodation.
The recreational vehicles have been delivered to St Mawgan airbase near Newquay, 20 miles from where the meeting of leaders takes place in the tiny Cornish resort of Carbis Bay at the weekend.
A 400-strong contingent of Secret Service agents and support staff will be at the summit, but with thousands of holidaymakers already in the area, almost every hotel and B&B in a 30-mile radius of the summit has been booked.
Meanwhile, video footage showed two Sea King and three V-22 Osprey helicopters soaring above Cornwall and Devon as they practiced the route the President will take from the airbase to Tregenna Castle Resort, St Ives, after Air Force One lands at RAF Mildenhall and then Newquay airport on Wednesday.
Some 1,000 police will be staying on a cruise liner docked in Falmouth harbour and others will stay in RVs currently parked up at the RAF airbase near Newquay.
It comes after a long line of caravans clogged up the A30 on Monday as holidaymakers made their way to the southern-most point of England. One photograph shared on social media showed heavy traffic that had been 'crawling' for around 20 minutes near the Devon-Cornwall border.
