Ring of metal erected round London as Joe Biden to reach in hours

Joe Biden‘s impending go to to the UK has led London authorities to visibly improve metropolis safety.

New photographs from the capital present a hoop of metal being erected round Regent’s Park and Metropolitan Police officers on patrol on the US Ambassador’s Winfield House residence.

The intensified police presence comes forward of a quick go to by the President, who is because of land in just some hours.

Mr Biden will solely keep for a day within the UK forward of this week’s NATO summit in Lithuania.

His stopover will embrace a gathering with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at No 10 tomorrow.

There, he and Mr Sunak will focus on the state of the warfare in Ukraine, which can take centre stage on the NATO convention.

The President will then head to Windsor Castle for a gathering with King Charles III.

His assembly with the monarch will probably be his first since Charles’ May Coronation and Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral in September 2022.

While it will not embrace the same old trappings of a state go to – together with a state banquet or navy parade – the extra safety demonstrates the significance of Mr Biden’s presence.

But it comes throughout a time of relative rigidity between the 2 nations, with President Biden having reportedly snubbed the UK for a number one NATO place.

The Prime Minister is claimed to have lobbied for Defence Secretary Ben Wallace to develop into the alliance’s subsequent Secretary General when Jens Stoltenberg’s time period expires in 2024.

According to a report printed by the Daily Telegraph, his candidacy was not supported by the US after Mr Wallace spearheaded a programme to coach Ukrainian troopers to make use of American-made F-16 jets.

The plan – which might have additionally equipped the nation with the plane – was not initially supported by the US, and NATO sources informed the publication Mr Biden now prefers EU Commission President Ursula Von Der Leyen for the function.

She has denied any curiosity within the transfer, nonetheless, and is predicted to contest her present place once more in 2024.

The UK has additionally signalled considerations over the selection by the US to incorporate cluster bombs in a brand new defence £626million bundle for Ukraine, with Mr Sunak reiterating the Government’s pledge to a “convention which prohibits the production or use of cluster munitions and discourages their use”.