Iain Duncan Smith has become the latest Brexiteer to worsen relations between Boris Johnson and Joe Biden’s administration, by telling the president-elect that Brexit “has nothing to do with him”.
Over the weekend fellow European Research Group member John Redwood was criticised for sending a “warning letter” to Biden over Brexit, claiming they have a bigger mandate to deliver their project than Biden has to run the country.
Now former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith has insisted the Tories will “get on with our legislation” insisting there is no need for the president-elect to get involved.
He told Channel 4 News: “It’s nothing to do with them and we will get on with our legislation.
“We are a sovereign nation, that’s what we voted for.
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“And therefore sovereign nations have the right to be sovereign.”
He added: “If I was Joe Biden, I would look to his own domestic problems rather than ours.”
Asked whether that was a “polite butt out” aimed at Biden, he replied: “You can take it as you wish.”
It follows reports from the Biden camp that there is “no special relationship” between Biden and Johnson, with the next US president prioritising calls between EU leaders and America first.
MORE: ‘Ireland owes this country nothing’ – Bonnie Greer on Question Time on Brexit negotiations
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