G7 summit live: Johnson says he won’t disagree with Biden on ‘anything’

There has been a Covid outbreak at a hotel housing security staff at the G7 summit in Cornwall, it has been reported.

Sky News’ Dan Whitehead says the hotel will be closing completely and “boarding”. He adds that security for the German delegation and an American broadcaster are staying at the property.

The Prince of Wales said the G7 summit is a “game-changing opportunity” to help create a partnership between governments, businesses and private finance to finally deal with the “existential crisis” of climate change.

The prince made Charles’ comments to a group of chief executives and business leaders – including fashion designer Stella McCartney – that the prince assembled to meet world leaders in Cornwall on Friday.

During a meeting at St James’s Palace, the Prince told executives: “We have a potential game-changing opportunity to drive partnerships between government, business and private sector financing, which are of course absolutely vital if we are to win the fight against climate change and biodiversity loss.”

He went on to say, “So by working together, and in the closest possible partnership with governments, we can move – and in fact move or start – mountains.

“As I am afraid I have been trying to say for several decades, unless we actually unlock private sector resources, innovation and financing, with the public sector setting up a framework of incentives and regulation, we do not stand a chance of resolving the existential crisis that we have designed over the years.”

Among those present at the meeting was Pascal Soriot, CEO of AstraZeneca, the maker of the Covid-19 vaccine.

He said: “A climate emergency is a public health emergency, to which there is no vaccine and no one is immune. The events of the past 18 months have led to the greatest public health challenge of our generation, but the impact of the climate emergency is likely to be even greater, damaging irreversibly on our planet. The pandemic has taught us the critical importance of cooperation and we must work together, now, to achieve change quickly and at scale.”

Joe Biden and Boris Johnson today attempted to calm rhetoric on Brexit after it emerged that Washington sent an unusual reprimand to London over the Northern Ireland Protocol.

Earlier today, an unnamed US source said Biden had not attended to lecture the UK prime minister on the subject, while Johnson suggested he would not disagree with the president “on anything” as the two met in Cornwall.

But however much both sides try to shift focus away from Brexit, the topic that will attract the most attention over the coming days amid the UK-EU trade war will likely be the “sausage” trade war.

Biden earlier warned that the Good Friday Agreement must be upheld and not jeopardize peace. But why does the American president care about what happens thousands of miles away from his homeland?

my colleague Adam Forrest Look over:

First Lady Jill Biden and Carrie Johnson joined their husbands on a tour of Cornwall, ahead of the prime minister’s first meeting at the G7 summit with the president of the United States.

More photos of the meeting below:

Boris Johnson and Joe Biden exchanged pleasantries on Thursday as the US president arrived in Cornwall at the start of the G7 summit.

As the cameras rolled ahead of a potentially difficult Brexit meeting, the prime minister told his US counterpart that “everyone” is “very happy to see you”.

Biden replied, “It’s a pleasure to be here. I’m glad to meet your wife” – referring to Carrie Johnson (née Symonds), who married Mr. Johnson at the end of last month.

Extinction Rebellion plans a batch of protests over the weekend (see Posted at 10.28 am). Here is their schedule for Friday, the first day of the summit:

• 10 a.m.: “Stop rearranging your deckchairs” Titanic on the Beach stage act by XR Money Rebellion (Location: Town Beach/Harbor Beach)
• 12 – 1.30 pm: Sound The Alarm Walk (Route: From the entertainment center to Porthminster Beach)
• 3.30 p.m.: A symbolic act of “Sinking in Oil” (Location: North End of Harbor Beach)
• 4 – 4.30 p.m. “Pandemic Inquiry” by Physicians for Extinction Rebellion (Location: North End of Harbor Beach)
• 5 p.m. ‘Smoke & Mirrors’ signals action for G7 leaders (location: Gwithian Beach)
• 5 p.m. “Stop the Amazon Burning” by Amazon Rebellion (location: “The Island” Porthmeor Road)

Democratic Unionist Party leader Edwin Potts has criticized Joe Biden’s comments that the UK government is risking peace in Northern Ireland due to Brexit, calling his comments “not well thought out”.

“It would surprise me that he was not well aware that the endangerment of peace was as a result of the protocol and because of the implementation of the protocol,” said Mr. Potts.

“We’ve seen street riots in Northern Ireland that we haven’t seen in many years, and I think the president would do well to think about the reality.

“The relationship between East and West has been damaged, barriers have been set up east/west, which is unconstitutional and the question that regulation is done on behalf of Northern Ireland in Brussels without representation is against democracy, and the United States of America has always been a country that desires democracy throughout world, so I would like to believe that the United States of America will recognize and respect the democratic rights of the people of Northern Ireland to have a say in the people who make the laws that are actually applied to them.”

Boris Johnson greets Joe Biden at Carbis Bay before the summit.

“It’s cool, I don’t want to go home,” Mister???? Biden said of the seascape walking with First Lady Jill Biden, the Prime Minister and his wife, Carrie.

Later the two men sat next to each other, and Mr. Biden said: “I told the prime minister we had something in common. We both got married above our stations.”

Mr Johnson replied: “I will not disagree with that. I will not disagree with you there or indeed on anything else, I think it is very likely.”

Then the Prime Minister shook his head as he and the President faced off with journalists’ questions.

Biarritz, Quebec, Sicily, Cheema, and Bavaria. Only the most obsessive politician might realize that these are the five newest places to host the annual G7 Summit, Gordon Brown writes.

If remembered at all, G7 rallies are usually only noticeable for leaders’ photo calls — not for any big decisions that are made.

But as the world’s richest nations prepare to meet again on Friday, one massive decision could save Cornwall’s Karbis Bay from being added to the list of long-forgotten G7 meetings. Leaders this weekend have a historic opportunity to stop Covid dead in its tracks, but they will only do so if they turn Boris Johnson’s promise to vaccinate the world into a concrete plan.

Here is the former prime minister’s comment in full: