Washington
Joe Biden is mulling to pick former US president Barack Obama as the country’s ambassador for the United Kingdom, The Daily Express reported Tuesday.
After being declared the winner of the US presidential election on Saturday, Joe Biden has reportedly begun the process of assembling his future cabinet and has started considering candidates for key diplomatic positions.
The report cited a source telling The Sunday Times that some ‘informal discussions’ have been taking place among Biden and his aides, with someone suggesting Obama’s name as the next ambassador to the UK.
The source, however, added that Biden’s current focus in on securing a cabinet for his upcoming presidency, which will formally begin in January 2020.
The publication added that Barak Obama’s potential appointment could be embarrassing for British Prime Minister Boris Johnson because of his previous, unpleasant remarks about the ex-US president.
In 2016, when PM Johnson was serving as London Mayor, he wrote an article for The Sun in which he commented on Obama’s part-Kenyan ancestry when the Obama administration decided to remove a bust of Winston Churchill from the White House.
“Some said it was a snub to Britain. Some said it was a symbol of the part-Kenyan president’s ancestral dislike of the British empire – of which Churchill had been such a fervent defender,” PM Johnson had written.
He was strongly criticised for his comments at that time.—AP
