• Thursday, March 28, 2024

UK

“Looking forward to working with him for many years to come”, says Trump after speaking with Johnson

FILE PHOTO: US President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson onstage during the annual NATO heads of government summit on December 4, 2019 in Watford, England. (Photo by Steve Parsons-WPA Pool/Getty Images)

By: ShelbinMS

US president Donald Trump, who tested positive for coronavirus last week, spoke by phone with British prime minister Boris Johnson, who is a covid survivor, on Wednesday(8).

Trump was hospitalised for three nights, after tested positive for the virus, but returned on Monday(5) to the White House, where the virus has infected dozens of members of his inner circle.

UK prime minister Johnson went into intensive care with the virus earlier this year.

“Very thankful for his friendship and support as I recovered from the China Virus,” the Republican billionaire wrote on Twitter, referring to the new coronavirus in a way that has ratcheted up tensions with Beijing.

“I am looking forward to working with him for many years to come, a great guy,” added the president, who trails his Democratic opponent Joe Biden by a wide margin in the polls ahead of the November 3 presidential election.

Johnson, who had been slow to act in the UK at the start of the pandemic, had to spend three nights in intensive care in April after he was infected with Covid-19.

Since then, questions about the impact of the disease on his health have been recurring in Britain, where he has also been criticised for his erratic management of the health crisis.

Trump has consistently downplayed the pandemic and has long refused to wear a mask in public. He was hospitalised from Friday to Monday.

On Wednesday, he returned to the Oval Office despite the risk of contagion, trying to stage his return to work as he is confined to the White House and deprived of field campaigning with 27 days to go before the election.

Biden and Trump are due for the next presidential debates on October 15 and 22. However, Biden said that he would not participate in the debate if the president still has the ‘virus’.

Bettors on British exchange Smarkets give Biden a 66 per cent chance of winning the election, down from 68 per cent before the debate. Trump’s chances rose to 33 per cent from 32 per cent.

Related Stories