US President Joe Biden “hates the United Kingdom” and his visit to Northern Ireland will not help restore power sharing, former First Minister Arlene Foster has said. 

Mr Biden flew into Belfast last night to mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement but Ms Foster said the unionist community would view him with suspicion. 

“He is the most partisan President there has ever been when dealing with Northern Ireland,” she told GB News. 

“He hates the United Kingdom, I don’t think there’s any doubt about that and I just think the fact that he’s coming here won’t put any pressure on the Democratic Unionist Party at all.

“Quite the reverse actually because he’s seen by so many people as just simply pro-republican and pro-nationalist.” 

US President Joe Biden disembarks Air Force One at Warsaw Chopin International Airport in Poland in March 2022. Picture by: World Politics Archive (WPA) / Alamy Stock Photo

She cited a joke Mr Biden made as Vice President when Enda Kenny visited Washington that, “If you're orange, you're not welcome here” and that his mother had once refused to sleep in a bed previously used by Britain’s Queen Elizabeth. 

Responding to Ms Foster's remarks, Amanda Sloat from the US National Security Council said Mr Biden was "not anti-British".

"The President has been very actively engaged throughout his career - dating back to when he was a Senator - in the peace process in Northern Ireland," she said.

"That has involved meetings with leaders of all of Northern Ireland's political parties from both of the two main communities."

Mr Biden has described the relationship between Britain and America as “a friendship built on our shared values, our commitment to democracy and our common vision for a peaceful and a prosperous future.”

He also became the first US President to attend the funeral of a British monarch following the death of Queen Elizabeth and ordered all US flags be flown at half-mast for 12 days.

Main image: Split of Joe Biden and Arlene Foster