‘Can you hear us Angela?’ PM asks German Chancellor to mute on G7 call

Boris Johnson was forced to intervene and ask Angela Merkel to mute herself after she interrupted him during the G7 meeting.

The Prime Minister hosted Friday’s online conference, which was the first meeting of G7 leaders since April 2020 and comes ahead of a summit in Cornwall in June.

Addressing the leaders, including US President Joe Biden in his first major multilateral meeting, from Downing Street, Mr Johnson encouraged other developed nations to join the effort to increase the global vaccine supply.

He was hosting from Downing Street to discuss how to solve the coronavirus pandemic.

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Mr Johnson kicked off the meeting by waving at those on screen, saying it was “great to see all of you”.

But as he was greeting his guests, the German chancellor was heard speaking.

“Can you hear us Angela,’ Johnson said, chuckling. “I think you need to mute.”

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The Prime Minister urged the group to work together on “building back better” from the pandemic joking that the new US President had probably stolen the phrase from him.

He then joked: “I think he may have nicked it from us but I certainly nicked it from somewhere else - probably some UN disaster relief programme.”

Mr Biden could be seen laughing on the video call on the screen inside the Cabinet Room today.

Other leaders on the call were French leader Emmanuel Macron, new Italian premier Mario Draghi, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

#Boris Johnson #Angela Merkel #Coronavirus #Joe Biden #Johnson #vaccine

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