Boris Johnson and the European commission president have agreed to stay "in personal contact" after they spoke about the ongoing Brexit talks in the shadow of a Joe Biden victory in the USA.
The two unions' leaders agreed to "redouble efforts" to reach a trade deal and signed off on talks continuing next week.
A spokesperson for the Prime Minister indicated that little new ground was covered in today's phonecall, saying Johnson had pointed to "significant differences remain[ing] in a number of areas, including the so-called level playing field and fish".
The call between Johnson and Ursula von der Leyen was announced yesterday after news outlets such as Business Insider and Decision Desk HQ began to call the US election in Biden's favour.
It now seems just a matter of time until the democratic nominee is officially announced as the president-elect.
Biden's victory has been interpreted as a blow to Johnson's No-Deal ambitions, as key Tory allies like Jacob Rees-Mogg had previously held up Donald Trump as the UK's greatest post-Brexit ally.
Biden is likely to be a more difficult partner than Trump for a post-Brexit Britain. He has already expressed firm condemnation of the UK Internal Market Bill, which breaks international law and threatens the Good Friday Agreement.
READ MORE: Brexit: Boris Johnson to hold talks with EU president in wake of Joe Biden win
Biden is proud of his Irish heritage and in September tweeted: "We can't allow the Good Friday Agreement that brought peace to Northern Ireland to become a casualty of Brexit."
A month later, a memo published by the democrat's campaign stated that there will be “no US-UK trade deal if the implementation of Brexit imperils the Good Friday Agreement”.
Member of the House of Lords are set to discuss changes to part five of the Internal Market Bill on Monday.
They will almost certainly be removing provisions authorising breaches of the UK’s international law obligations under the Northern Ireland Protocol.
A Lords motion warning the legislation “would undermine the rule of law and damage the reputation of the United Kingdom” was passed by 395 votes to 169 – the largest majority in the house in 20 years, according to reports in The Independent.
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.
However, Biden has been called a pragmatist, and rumours from his campaign camp are that he will be considering calling the UK before any other nation when he officially becomes president.
The call between Johnson and von der Leyen follows two weeks of intensified talks between the UK's chief negotiator Lord Frost and his European Union equivalent Michel Barnier, with further discussions between the pair in London next week.
With Johnson's unofficial October 15 No-Deal deadline already passed, only the official deadline of January 1, 2021 remains. However, more time than that will be needed for the deal to be properly ratified in parliaments across Europe.
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