Barack Obama says ‘Michelle would leave me’ if he took post in Joe Biden’s cabinet

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Barack Obama has made clear he has no plans to take a position in Joe Biden’s cabinet, saying if he did his wife would probably leave him.

In an interview to promote a new memoir, the former president was asked what advice he might have for his one-time vice president, president-elect Joe Biden.

“He doesn't need my advice. I will help him in any way that I can now,” he said, speaking on CBS’s Sunday Morning.

“But I'm not planning to suddenly work on the White House staff or something.”

When interviewer Gayle King, jokingly pressed him - no cabinet position for you, Mr President? - his response was clear cut.

“There are probably some things I would not be doing because Michelle would leave me. She'd be like: ‘What? You’re doing what?’”

Mr Obama made the comments in an interview to promote his new book, A Promised Land, which is released this week. It is widely expected the book will be an international bestseller, and have the sort of reception enjoyed by Micelle Obama’s 2018 book, Becoming.

The pair received a reported $65m for the books, which are being published by Random House.

Mr Obama is also due to speak to Oprah Winfrey for her show The Oprah Conversation, broadcast on Apple TV+.