Boris Johnson has met with Joe Biden for the first time with the former cracking a joke about their wives in his first overseas visit as President.

The two leaders and their wives also admired the view overlooking Carbis Bay, with Mr Biden saying: “It’s gorgeous. I don’t want to go home.”

Boris Johnson said he would not disagree with Joe Biden on his suggestion they both “married way above our stations”.

After the Prime Minister and US President met along with their wives Carrie and Jill, Mr Johnson also optimistically predicted they would also not disagree on “anything else”.

As the two men were sat next to each other in Carbis Bay, where the G7 summit will be hosted, Mr Biden said: “I told the Prime Minister we have something in common. We both married way above our stations.”

Mr Johnson responded: “I’m not going to dissent on that one. I’m not going to disagree with you there or indeed on anything else, I think highly likely.”

The Prime Minister then shook his head as he and the president faced a cacophony of questions from journalists.

Milford Mercury: Boris Johnson said he would not disagree with Joe Biden on his suggestion they both “married way above our stations”. (PA)Boris Johnson said he would not disagree with Joe Biden on his suggestion they both “married way above our stations”. (PA)

Boris Johnson and Joe Biden have begun their meeting in Cornwall where the US President is expected to stress the need to “stand behind” the Northern Ireland Protocol, the element of the Brexit deal which has triggered a UK-EU dispute.

The issue has threatened to overshadow the Prime Minister’s first meeting with the president and his hosting of the G7 summit.

Aside from Brexit, Mr Johnson and Mr Biden will work on efforts to resume transatlantic travel and agree a new Atlantic Charter paving the way for co-operation on challenges including climate change and security.

But Mr Biden’s close interest in issues affecting Ireland will mean that the dispute over the protocol will feature heavily in discussions with the UK and European Union over the coming days of intense diplomatic activity in Cornwall.

The Times reported that the president – who is intensely proud of his Irish roots – took the extraordinary step of ordering the United States’ most senior diplomat in London, Yael Lempert, to deliver a demarche – a formal protest – in a meeting with Brexit minister Lord Frost on June 3.

The newspaper reported that Government minutes of the meeting said: “Lempert implied that the UK had been inflaming the rhetoric, by asking if he would keep it ‘cool’.”

The US charge d’affaires indicated that if Mr Johnson accepted demands to follow EU rules on agricultural standards, Mr Biden would ensure that it would not “negatively affect the chances of reaching a US/UK free trade deal”.

Downing Street did not deny the encounter took place. A No 10 spokesman said: “I don’t think you would expect me to get into discussions with other countries.”

The spokesman added that the Government would continue to seek to work “consensually” with the EU to resolve the impasse.