³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has congratulated Joe Biden on his US election win in their first phone call since the election result was declared.

Mr Biden called the PM before going on to speak to the leaders of other major European countries, including French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Irish Taoiseach (PM) Micheál Martin.

During the 25 minute conversation Mr Johnson said he looked forward to "strengthening the partnership" between the US and UK.

He is also understood to have assured Mr Biden, who has Irish family history, that Brexit would not undermine the Good Friday Agreement on peace in Northern Ireland.

This was something Mr Biden had warned he wouldn't support.

Mr Biden reportedly said he wanted to strengthen the historic "special relationship" between the UK and US and "redouble co-operation" on issues of importance to them both, including health security and promoting democracy.

Mr Biden won the election on Saturday after got 270 electoral college votes - the amount needed to win the Presidential election.

But counting is ongoing in some states, with the current president Donald Trump saying he doesn't accept many of the results.

A Downing Street spokesperson said the prime minister had "warmly congratulated" Mr Biden and "conveyed his congratulations" to Vice-President-elect Kamala Harris.

"They discussed the close and longstanding relationship between our countries and committed to building on this partnership in the years ahead, in areas such as trade and security - including through Nato" the No 10 spokesperson added.

"The prime minister and president-elect also looked forward to working closely together on their shared priorities, from tackling climate change, to promoting democracy, and building back better from the coronavirus pandemic."

Earlier in the day, the UK government blamed a "technical error" for a tweet from Mr Johnson congratulating Mr Biden on his US election victory which faintly showed the name "Trump" in the background. They said they had prepared two in advance - one for each candidate.

We can't help but wonder if the two leaders had a chat about that too!