Rishi Sunak has said US President Joe Biden was “being polite” after a video showed him walking away from the group of G7 leaders to speak to a parachute jumper circulated online.
Footage showed the leaders standing outside as they watched people skydiving with the flags of each nation flying behind their parachutes on the opening night of the leaders’ meeting in Italy. The US president was seen speaking and giving the thumbs up to a person out of shot.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni steers him back to pose for photos with the rest of the G7 leaders, before Mr Biden puts on his aviator sunglasses. It led to claims he had “wandered off” and comes amid recent speculation about his mental faculties. Mr Biden is 81 years old and the oldest person to hold the presidency.
But Mr Sunak insisted the incident showed the president was “being polite” and going to talk to the parachutist. Asked in Puglia, Italy, if Mr Biden was ok, Mr Sunak replied: “Yes. He went to go and talk to the pilot, one of the parachute jumpers.
“As far as I know he went over to talk to some of the parachute jumpers, saying thank you or hello to them all individually, and then we all lined up and they all came and lined up.
“They all landed and he was being very polite and went over to talk to all of them individually, and Giorgia was saying ‘don’t worry they’re all coming’ – we were meant to line up and they were coming to shake our hands.”
“Everyone wanted to talk to the person who jumped with their flag. I had a chat with the person with the British flag. That’s what everyone wanted to do.”
Mr Biden’s age and health have been in the spotlight during the presidential campaign, with a recent Wall Street Journal article claiming that “behind closed doors, Biden shows signs of slowing“.
Republican rival Donald Trump, who turns 78 today, has sought to capitalise on his opponent’s age, casting him as unfit for office.
Meanwhile, some Democrats have expressed concerns about Mr Biden’s ability to complete another term, which would take him to age 86.
In a Reuters poll in February, some 78 per cent of respondents – including 71 per cent of Democrats – said Mr Biden was too old to work in government. Some 53 per cent of respondents said Trump, who was president from 2017-21, was too old for government work.
Trump is narrowly leading the US president in several of the battleground states in the opinion polls, but it remains unclear just how much age will be a factor in the election outcome.
In February, Mr Biden’s doctor released details of his annual medical examination saying that he is “fit for duty” and “no new concerns” have been identified.
Earlier this year, Robert Hur, the Department of Justice special counsel, released a 345-page report looking into how Mr Biden handled top secret files, describing Mr Biden as “a sympathetic, well meaning, elderly man with a poor memory” and said he could not recall when he was vice-president or when his son Beau died.