Biden jokes about England’s football win as Starmer suggests ‘it’s coming home’
Joe Biden suggested Sir Keir Starmer was responsible for England’s Euro 2024 success as news of the semi-final win reached the Oval Office.
The Prime Minister said it looked like football was coming home, while Mr Biden said the triumph over the Netherlands was “good news indeed”.
“It’s all because of the Prime Minister,” Mr Biden joked.
What a game @England and what a winner.
Berlin here we come!
— Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) July 10, 2024
The pair met shortly after England completed the win through a late Ollie Watkins strike.
As he sat with Mr Biden in the White House, reporters asked if football was coming home and Sir Keir smiled, saying: “It looks like it.”
Mr Biden was asked if he watched the football, saying “I heard”, adding: “Good news indeed. It’s all because of the Prime Minister.”
Sir Keir managed to watch some of the game alongside Dutch counterpart Dick Schoof in the margins of the Nato summit in Washington.
Picked the right moment to pop out from NATO meetings and check the score…@MinPres pic.twitter.com/gqnCK8ogri
— Keir Starmer (@Keir_Starmer) July 10, 2024
Sir Keir said: “I began to watch the game with the Netherlands prime minister, but we left at 1-1.”
The president laughed and said: “And you guys are still talking to one another?”
The Prime Minister will attend the tournament final in Berlin on Sunday after little more than a week in No 10.
“What a game England and what a winner,” the Prime Minister wrote on X.
“Berlin here we come!”
Sir Keir had earlier managed to watch Harry Kane score England’s equaliser in the match – in a room with his Dutch counterpart.
The Prime Minister got out of his seat as the spot-kick was drilled home, then shook hands with Mr Schoof.
Sir Keir had previously said he believed he would be relying on officials secretly passing him notes to keep track of the game during a meeting of Nato’s North Atlantic Council.
He told reporters: “I understand our phones are all taken off us, when we go into the council, so I’ve no doubt we’ll be passed lots of notes with really important information about the summit, and one or two of those notes hopefully will be an update on the score, because I’m not going to be able to get it otherwise.”
