On Tuesday, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson tweeted that he had spoken with Joe Biden to congratulate the former vice president on his apparent presidential election victory. The call is highly significant.

For a start, Johnson and the British government he leads are well aware that this call will infuriate President Trump. They know that Trump still believes he has been reelected and is determined to follow through on his supposed win. Considering the importance of the U.S. government to British interests, Johnson’s call thus evinces Britain’s high confidence that Biden will indeed enter office as president at midday on Jan. 20, 2021. Were London to have doubts as to whether Trump’s legal challenges would succeed or fail, this call would likely never have been made. At the very least, Johnson would not have tweeted about the call and its content.