U.K. PM Sunak meets Biden at White House to discuss Ukraine, Nato, AI

Britain’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak appeared as a guest at a Washington Nationals baseball game on Wednesday.

Kevin LaMarque/Pool/AFP via Getty Images

LONDON — When Rishi Sunak became the United Kingdom’s prime minister last fall, it was right around the Indian holiday of Diwali — and Sunak is the first U.K. prime minister of Indian descent. So President Biden gave him a shout-out at the White House Diwali party.

But he botched the pronunciation of Sunak’s name. So did his press secretary. By January, he still couldn’t get it right. (It’s pronounced RIH-shee — rhymes with “dishy” — SOO-nak. Some U.K. media even nicknamed him “Dishy Rishi.”)

That left some in London with the impression the Biden administration hadn’t learned who the British prime minister was — or didn’t care.

When Biden traveled to Sunak’s region in April, for the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, which ended decades of sectarian violence in Northern Ireland, it was an opportunity for a reset. But he spent four days in Ireland and less than a full day on the U.K. side — barely enough time to grab a cup of coffee with Sunak. (The press dubbed their bilateral meeting a “bi-latte.”)

Biden later told a fundraiser in New York that he only went to the commemoration to ensure “the Brits didn’t screw around.”

So as Sunak heads to the White House Thursday, he’s looking to reset what’s long been called a “special relationship” between Britain and the United States. He wants to prove that after Brexit, former Prime Minister Boris Johnson and political turmoil in London, Britain remains one of the most important U.S. allies.