Boris Johnson's team have started wooing Democrat US presidential challenger Joe Biden after reportedly giving up on Donald Trump's chances of being re-elected.
Downing Street are said to have turned their sights to the 77-year-old amid signs that he is developing a commanding lead over Mr Trump in the polls.
With just 22 days to go there are fears for the future progress of talks over a US-UK trade deal that have been carried out by International Trade Secretary Liz Truss.
Mr Biden has previously warned that Mr Johnson's attempts to undo part of the Brexit Withdrawal Agreement relating to Northern Ireland could see the UK shelve the talks if he is in charge.
Mr Trump has returned to the White House after being briefly hospitalised with Covid-19. Last night he took off his mask and told a crowd of hundreds of fans outside the White House 'I'm feeling great' and the coronavirus is 'disappearing' in his first public event.
But a senior Tory told the Sunday Times: 'They're writing off Trump in No 10 now.'
Last month Mr Biden used social media to attack the Prime Minister's attempt to give ministers the power to undo part of the Withdrawal Agreement signed last year.
The Internal Market Bill (IMB) allows the Government to unpick sections relating to Northern Ireland's status after the end of the year.
But in his first direct intervention on the matter since becoming the Democrat challenger Mr Biden warned that the move - which would breach international law if enacted, would threaten the UK-US trade deal currently being negotiated.
The deal has to be ratified by the US Congress and Democrats who control the lower House of Representatives have already threatened to halt its progress.
Mr Biden tweeted: 'We can't allow the Good Friday Agreement that brought peace to Northern Ireland to become a casualty of Brexit. Any trade deal between the US and UK must be contingent upon respect for the Agreement and preventing the return of a hard border. Period.'
But his comments provoked an uproar of anger from Brexiteer Tories.
This article has been adapted from its original source.
