US President Joe Biden addressed British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak as “president” during their brief on-camera conversation today at the White House.

Biden, 80, was quick to correct, joking that he promoted Sunak

“Well, Mr. President … I just promoted you … Mr. Prime Minister, it’s great to welcome you back,” Biden said at the start of his meeting with the British prime minister, who reacted with laughter.

This is Sunak’s first visit to the White House since he took over as Britain’s prime minister last October.

“In the last few months we met in San Diego and then we met in Belfast and Hiroshima,” the US president said. “And now we’re here, we’re going to solve all the problems in the world in the next 20 minutes,” he added.

The US president today praised Washington-London’s strong ties, saying they are in “extremely good shape”.

However, during his recent visit to Ireland, he had said that the aim of his trip to the island was to make sure “the British people are not burdened”, amid concern over the peace process and the impact of Brexit.