BORIS Johnson and the EU commission president will hold last minute talks tomorrow in an attempt to break the Brexit deadlock.
Johnson will speak to Ursula von der Leyen on Saturday to discuss the “the state-of-play of the negotiations”, an EU spokesperson announced.
The call was later confirmed by Downing Street, who described it as a chance to "take stock" of the current position.
The leaders will need to discuss the significant differences which remain between the two sides on issues like fisheries, state aid, and “a level playing-field”.
Talks proper are expected to begin again in London next week, with just over 50 days until the No-Deal deadline of January 1, 2021.
READ MORE: Boris Johnson to stay in 'personal contact' with EU as Biden presidency looms
Bloomberg reported that officials see Johnson and von der Leyen’s announcement as a positive move that may inject momentum into the faltering negotiations.
The news comes in the wake of the projected win for Joe Biden in the USA, which will have come as a blow to the hard-right Brexiteers like Jacob Rees-Mogg who had anticipated a post-Brexit ally in Donald Trump.
The UK Government has been heavily criticised during the current US election for failing to condemn Trump’s fascist rhetoric, and failing to say that every vote should be counted in democratic elections worldwide.
Instead, Downing Street repeatedly said that vote counting was a matter for the US to sort out.
A victory for Biden will be a blow to Johnson’s Government, who have pinned their hopes of a special relationship with the US after Brexit on the incumbent winning a second term.
Furthermore, Biden held up Johnson’s landslide victory in December’s General Election as a warning for American democrats like himself, saying Johnson was “a physical and emotional clone” of Trump.
READ MORE: Joe Biden beats Donald Trump to win US presidential election, reports say
The soon-to-be president-elect is unlikely to favour the UK in the ongoing Brexit talks.
Speaking in San Francisco late last year, Biden added that real leaders “are supposed to be able to persuade and work something out”, something Cameron’s, May’s, and Johnson’s Tories have been unable to manage in the four years since the EU referendum.
Biden is also reported to have long held a dislike for Johnson after comments the current Prime Minister made about Barack Obama.
In a 2016, Johnson was accused of racism after writing, in an article for The Sun, that Obama's "part-Kenyan" heritage meant he had an "ancestral dislike of the British empire".
A source told Business Insider this had not been forgotten. They said Obama and Biden are very close friends outside of politics, and Biden "has a long memory" about such insults.
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