In Pictures: President Joe Biden had strong links with the UK and Ireland

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

US President Joe Biden’s decision to withdraw his bid for re-election spells the end of a political career that has lasted more than 50 years.

The 46th US president has been a fixture in Washington politics since the 1970s, having served in high-powered roles in the Senate, as vice-president under Barack Obama, before getting the top job after an ugly duel with Donald Trump in the middle of the Covid pandemic.

The second Catholic president had family roots in the UK and, in particular, Ireland, so it was no surprise that he frequently crossed the Atlantic both in Air Force One and, earlier in his career, by other means.

Mr Biden had long sought the presidency and in 1988 an unsuccessful run for the Democratic Party nomination was in part halted by plagiarism claims, including that he had incorporated lines used by former Labour Party leader Neil Kinnock into his speeches.

When Mr Obama picked Mr Biden as his running mate in 2008 for his successful White House campaign, he selected a man from Scranton, Pennsylvania, who understood and knew how to communicate with the working class voters that were kingmakers in the swing states.

With a life touched by personal tragedies including the loss of his first wife and a child in a car crash just after he was elected as US senator for Delaware in 1972, tragedy struck again in 2015 with the death of his son Beau Biden.

It was possibly a factor in his decision not to seek the Democratic nomination eventually won by Hillary Clinton.

Four years later he was seen as the only candidate who could prevent a second term for Donald Trump and successfully won an ill-tempered contest carried out against the background of the pandemic.

He wasted no time in returning to the UK and Ireland after taking the keys to the Oval Office.

His visit to the island of Ireland saw him greeted by large crowds as he noted he was visiting the land of his ancestors.

Mr Biden had already forged important personal relations with British and Irish leaders during his spell as Mr Obama’s number two.

The president met Pope Francis during the G7 summit in Italy.

A week earlier he had been in Normandy for the 80th anniversary of D-Day.

And the 75th anniversary summit for Nato gave him a chance to meet another UK Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, the fourth person to occupy that role during Mr Biden’s presidency.