John Redwood sends 'warning letter' to Joe Biden over Brexit

Conservative MP John Redwood - Credit: PA Archive/PA Images

A Brexiteer MP has penned what pro-Brexit newspapers have described as a ‘warning letter’ to president-elect Joe Biden over Brexit.

John Redwood said he accepted that Biden now has a “clear mandate” in America, but he also claimed there was a “larger percentage mandate” for the EU referendum result, despite both equating to around 52% of the overall vote.

The Brexiteer also told the new leader of the country that the election result also demonstrated that Donald Trump had “considerable support for his Republican vision” with 70 million votes.

He wrote: “The UK’s EU referendum gave us a larger percentage mandate for exit than your own convincing win, so you will understand the importance to us of becoming a truly independent country again on 1 January next year.”

He urged the president-elect to work with the British government to achieve its goals on both sides of the Atlantic, denying there was a Tory plot to undermine the Good Friday Agreement (GFA).

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He continued: “I must stress that the UK does uphold the GFA in Northern Ireland.

“As we leave the EU we have no plans to impose a hard border between the UK and the Republic of Ireland, contrary to false EU rumours.”

Instead, he told the next president to “take up” with the European Union fears of a border, which he suggested was the fault of them alone.

He said: “It is the EU which seems to be planning new border controls on their side of the border which you may like to take up with them.”

In response, Redwood said the UK government would work with him on NATO, support the White House in the Middle East, and be “vigilant” on Russian and Chinese cyber threats.

Dear Joe, I wrote you but you still ain't callin'
I left my cell, my pager, and my home phone at the bottom
I sent two letters back in autumn, you must not-a got 'em
There probably was a problem at the post office or somethin' https://t.co/jUaiZygEuw

— Dorian Lynskey (@Dorianlynskey) November 9, 2020

The letter was roundly mocked on Twitter.

Gaby Hinsliff tweeted: “Amuse yourself by picturing the Biden office’s exact reaction when they read it”.

“Biden will be absolutely shitting himself,” joked Gary Bainbridge.

“How to win friends and influence people. Not,” said Peter Fitzgerald.

Peter Horne commented: “The USA just admitted it made a mistake and corrected it. About time our government did the same. That’s the intelligent thing to do.”

It comes just weeks after another Brexiteer, Iain Duncan Smith, warned Biden not to “lecture” the Britain on Northern Ireland

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