Donald Trump joins royals for state banquet at Windsor as thousands protest against US president’s visit – as it happened

True to form with an expectedly “big picture” style speech, the king mostly emphasised the shared history and culture between the UK and US, with Trump also sticking to the script and striking a remarkably gracious and sombre tone.

Notably, the only causes the king mentioned by name were efforts to support Ukraine, enhance the trading relationship and protect the environment (Trump is a threat to all three). He praised Trump’s efforts to finding solutions to conflicts around the world, and the US president in return heaped praise and gratitude on Charles for the historic second state visit.

Elements of Trump’s brief remarks were characteristically self-congratulatory, but for the most part he stressed the close bond between the two countries, even declaring “the word special does not begin to do it justice”. That will no doubt be a huge relief for the British political establishment, giving the *awkward* timing of this visit.

Dan Milmo, Robert Booth and Jillian Ambrose

Donald Trump’s arrival in the UK last night was accompanied by a multibillion-dollar transatlantic tech agreement.

The announcement features some of the biggest names from Silicon Valley: the chipmaker Nvidia; the ChatGPT developer, OpenAI; and Microsoft. Big numbers were involved, with Microsoft hailing its $30bn (£22bn) investment as a major commitment to the UK – and adding, in an apparent swipe at its rivals, that it was not making “empty tech promises”.

Here is a breakdown of the announcements in the UK-US “tech prosperity deal”, spelling out what is explicitly new in them.

Jeremy Corbyn, the former Labour leader who is now an independent MP, has congratulated the activists arrested by the police after pictures of Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein were projected on to the walls of Windsor Castle.

Referring to them at the anti-Trump rally in Parliament Square, he said: “Well done.”

He went on

There’s something very sinister about our times when peaceful protest becomes terrorism: when an ad van going around Windsor Castle perfectly legally is then stopped by the police, taken away, and those people prevented from expressing a point of view.

This is what’s happening to our democratic rights and democratic values in our society. They take away the right to protest because they don’t want us to protest.

That is all from me for today. I’m handing over now to Lucy Campbell.

Turning away from Trump for a moment, Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, has issued a statement about the court ruling yesterday halting the deportation to France of an Eritrean man who arrived on a small boat. He would have been the first person sent back under the new “one in, one out” returns deal with France. But he claims to be a victim of trafficking and the court agreed to halt the deportation to allow more time for this claim to be investigated.

Mahmood said she would appeal against the decision. She implied the trafficking claim was bogus and she also revealed that she is urgently reviewing the Modern Slavery Act to stop it being abused. She said:

Last minute attempts to frustrate a removal are intolerable, and I will fight them at every step.

Migrants suddenly deciding that they are a modern slave on the eve of their removal, having never made such a claim before, make a mockery of our laws and this country’s generosity.

I will fight to end vexatious, last-minute claims. I will robustly defend the British public’s priorities in any court. And I will do whatever it takes to secure our border.

The Home Office was already looking at reforming the systems in place for dealing with modern slavery, but this new review will look at whether the legislation is open to misuse by asylum seekers.

The government is still expecting the first returns under the new deal with France to take place this week.

The Metropolitan police say they think about 5,000 people are attending the anti-Trump rally in Parliament Square.

Some readers have been asking about the offence of “malicious communications”. This was the reason given by the police when they arrested four men after pictures of Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein were projected on to the walls of Windsor Castle last night.

On Bluesky, Paul Bernal, a law professor, says a lot of people do not appreciate what the offence involves. He is referring people to the Malicious Communications Act, which says someone commits this offence if: a) they send an “indecent or grossly offensive” message; and b) it’s with the intent of causing “distress or anxiety to the recipient or to any other person to whom he intends that it or its contents or nature should be communicated”.

Here is the Ministry of Defence’s explanation of what the beating retreat ceremony actually is.

Beating Retreat is a military spectacle and ceremony which originated in the early years of organised warfare and symbolises the end of the day when camp gates were closed and ceremonial flags were lowered.

The ceremony takes place on Horse Guards Parade every year in June, when the salute is taken by a member of the Royal Family.

Apparently this is the first time there has been a beating retreat during a state visit.

(That may be in part because, when previous presidents have visited the UK on state visits, the organisers have not had to keep the president locked up behind a castle wall for a whole day because they don’t want protests to spoil public-facing visits.)

The MoD has also explained some of the music chosen for the ceremony.

Much of the music chosen for this Beating Retreat ceremony is relevant to the historic relationship between the UK and US:

Eagle Squadron commemorates US pilots who flew in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War

Golden Friendship is a classic American march which is a favourite of the First Lady. It is often played for her at the White House. Its title is particularly appropriate to today’s ceremonies.

Eternal Father is international associated with fallen seafarers. It is often played at sunset to mark the end of the day and reflect on shared sacrifice.

Battle Hymn of the Republic is often played at the White House, including for President Roosevelt and Sir Winston Churchill at the end of the Second World War.

Republic, the group campaigning for the abolition of the monarch in the UK, has joined the anti-Trump protest in London. Explaining why, spokesperson Graham Smith said:

Charles and Trump are two sides of the same coin. Corrupt billionaires with a distaste for democracy.

People in the UK have also raised concerns about Trump’s attacks on the US constitution. They worry about the erosion of checks and balances and the centralisation of power.

Yet the UK is already there. Charles is exempted from hundreds of laws and shies away from scrutiny and accountability.

We marched today with one simple message – corrupt billionaires are not the answer.

In a reference to the fact that Trump’s opponents in the US organised a large number of protests against him earlier this year under the banner “No Kings” (they wanted to highlight his authoritarianism), Smith said:

It’s time to fix our democracy and defend the country from those who might want to undermine what democratic rights we have, whether that be Charles or Trump.

No Kings Here. No Kings There. No Kings Anywhere.

Rachel Hall is a Guardian reporter.

Thousands of people gathered in the streets of central London for the main Stop Trump Coalition protest on Wednesday afternoon. Many held placards expressing anger and frustration with a wide range of political issues, from climate breakdown and abortion rights to genocide in Gaza, nuclear disarmament, the monarchy, the rise of Reform and racism. Common placards displayed slogans stating “make polluters pay”, “no to racism, no to Trump”, “stop arming Israel” and “stop Trump, stop fascism”.

Other protesters adopted creative approaches, including one woman who dressed as the statue of Liberty, holding a book stating “the statue of taking Liberties”, another who dragged a Trump effigy on the ground, and one person dressed in a costume echoing the inflatable Trump baby blimp from the 2018 protest, clutching a list titled the “Epstein Files”, listing the people allegedly implicated.

Protesters who spoke to the Guardian said they were participating to signal their exasperation with Keir Starmer and the UK government, as well as their rage about Donald Trump’s prominence on the world stage, and the impact of his divisive policies.

One art teacher from south London had hand-painted a placard featuring portraits of Starmer and Trump stating “appeasing hate empowers fascists”. She said she wanted to send a message to Starmer that she was disappointed in the Labour government, and that his decision to invite Trump for a second state visit was “appalling”.

She was inspired by her South African father to join the protest, given the eventual impact that civil disobedience had on ending apartheid. She told the Guardian:

Whatever the general public can do, even if it means going on a protest and just marching and raising your voice – however small it is, it’s better than nothing.

Chloe Evans had travelled up from Dorset to express her fears around the rollback she felt the Trump administration was having on women’s rights, including abortion and rape prosecution. She said:

We need to show American citizens that they still have friends over here, who are thinking about them. And we’re doing our best to pressure our government to take action.

Sam Weinstein, an American who has lived in London since 2012, joined the protest to represent the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network. He said:

I’m outraged that they would even consider inviting Trump to this country. Since when do we elect convicted criminals, and since when do we let them govern the world?

John, who grew up in the southern states of the US, said he had seen the rise of the Make America Great Again (Maga) movement up close, and feared that we are now “watching the rise of fascism”, with the lessons of the previous century increasingly forgotten. He travelled up from Bournemouth to hold a placard that said he had been “radicalised” by Trump, because he had never before felt so motivated to participate in politics.

But in London the anti-Trump protesters are out in their thousands.

YouGov has released some new polling on President Trump’s visit to the UK. Here are the key findings.

• More than half of Britons think the Trump presidency has been bad for the UK, the poll suggests. Fewer than one person in 10 thinks it has been good for the UK.

• A plurality of Britons think the government was wrong to invite Trump for a second state visit, the poll suggests. Only 30% of people say inviting Trump was right, and 45% say it was wrong.

• Britons are fairly evenly divided between those who think Keir Starmer has been too positive towards Trump (30%) and those who think he has got the balance right (27%), the poll suggests.

Thames Valley police say that the van that was displaying the picture of Donald Trump with Jeffrey Epstein (see 2.19pm) was stopped in Windsor as part of a routine security check. In a statement, the force said:

Security checks are a necessary part of our response to ensure the safety of the state visit and all those in the area.

The driver was at risk of breaching the Road Traffic Regulations Act, and after a brief conversation with officers the motorist left the area.

No arrests were made and no vehicles were seized.

We have been clear with the public that an enhanced police presence would be in place due to the state visit.

Donald Trump and the first lady will give King Charles a replica of a President Eisenhower Sword as a symbol of “historical partnership” in a gift exchange as the US president is welcomed to Windsor on his state visit, PA Media reports.

Charles and the queen also have presents for their American guests, according to Buckingham Palace.

Trump and his wife touched down in the presidential helicopter just after noon on Wednesday and were first greeted by the Prince and Princess of Wales and then Charles and Camilla in front of Victoria House, a property in the Royal Kitchen Gardens at Frogmore on the private Windsor estate.

King Charles and the queen will gift Mr Trump a bespoke, hand-bound leather book specially crafted by the Royal Bindery in Windsor Castle to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, which was adopted in Philadelphia on July 4 1776, as well as the union flag that was hoisted above Buckingham Palace on the day of the president’s inauguration earlier this year.

To Mrs Trump, Charles and Camilla will gift a silver and enamel bowl featuring the queen’s cypher crafted by Northern Irish artist Cara Murphy, a renowned silversmith who has created works for Downing Street and the Grand National.

The first lady will also receive a personalised Anya Hindmarch handbag.

The royals will give the American couple a silver photograph frame engraved with their joint cyphers.

The president and his wife will return the gestures with gifts of their own.

King Charles is set to receive a replica of a President Eisenhower Sword which, according to Buckingham Palace, symbolises “profound respect” and acts as a “reminder of the historical partnership that was critical” to winning the second world war.

“The sword also symbolises the enduring values and co-operative spirit that continues to define the relationship between the United States and Great Britain,” the palace added.

Meanwhile the queen will be gifted a Tiffany & Co vintage 18-carat gold, diamond and ruby flower brooch.

The brooch, said to represent diplomacy, friendship, and respect, features Camilla’s birthstone – rubies – and that of Mrs Trump’s – diamonds.

King Charles has received several gifts from world leaders over the years.

A sword sounds nice, but what the UK really wants is 21st century military firepower to help secure Ukraine, and the rest of Europe, against Russia. On this, the Americans havwe not been quite forthcoming as the Europeans would like.

And perhaps Trump will be disappointed with his pressie too. After all, the Qataris gave him a $400m jet.

Led by Donkeys, the campaign group that projected pictures of Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein onto the walls of Windsor Castle last night, has condemned the arrest of four men in relation to the stunt as “Orwellian” and “ridiculous”. Alexandra Topping has the story.

Led by Donkeys started life as a anti-Brexit campaign group. It specialised in fact-based campaigning (often highlighting the inconsistency between what politicians previously said, and what they were doing now), and in staging imaginative, often funny, stunts. Before the general election they mainly campaigned against the Conservatives and Reform UK, but now they branch out more widely. Their name comes from the saying, widely associated with soldiers in the first world war, about them being “lions led by donkeys”.

Maybe Donald Trump is right about freedom of speech being under threat in the UK after all. The advertising van that was driving in Windsor showing an image of Donald Trump with Jeffrey Epstein (see 9.49am) has been stopped by police, Reuters is reporting.

In a post on Instagram, the campaign group Eveyone Hates Elon says it was their van and the police confiscated it. They claim that two journalists covering the story were also detained.

Thames Valley police have been asked to comment.

Zack Polanski, the new Green party leader, is due to address the anti-Trump rally in Westminster this afternoon. Speaking ahead of the march, he said:

Donald Trump comes to Britain seeking credibility and to whitewash his own complicity in the genocide unfolding in Gaza.

While the vast majority unite against Trump and everything he stands for, there will be one man who wants us to welcome him with open arms: Nigel Farage.

Farage pretends to be a man of the people, but he’s really just a man of the super rich. Like Trump he seeks power, influence and money over all else.

Our country has a proud tradition of standing up for the underdog. Today, that means standing alongside every child in Gaza; with all those in detention camps on the borders of the United States and with each and every one of those growing up in poverty here in Britain. And standing up to the bully Donald Trump and his poodle, Nigel Farage.

Here are some pictures from the carriage procession.

Liz Kendall, the science secretary, was on the Today programme this morning talking about the “tech prosperity deal” agreed with the US. (See 9.43am.)

American tech companies were reportedly pushing for exemptions from the digital services tax (DST) as part of a deal. But asked if that would happen, Kendall said that was not part of the deal.

Asked if the DST would stay, she said:

Rachel Reeves [the chancellor] has been very strong about saying people need to pay their fair share of taxes. It wasn’t included in this partnership at all.

Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, has criticised Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative party leader, for refusing in an LBC interview to criticise Elon Musk’s “fight back or die” speech to the rally organised by Tommy Robinson in London on Saturday, and for refusing to describe Robinson (an extremist with multiple convictions, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon) as far-right. He posted this on social media.

I’m old enough to remember when Conservative party leaders believed in law and order.

And Daisy Cooper, the Lib Dem deputy leader, said in a statement:

By pandering to extremists instead of standing up to them, she is alienating moderate Conservatives and proving the Tories are no longer the party of law and order.

British police were injured at last week’s far right rally while Elon Musk stood over and encouraged violence on our streets. It is sickening and it must be called out by every party leader.

Davey and Badenoch have both been invited to the state banquet for Trump tonight, but the Conservative leader won’t get a chance to explain herself to her rival – because Davey is boycotting the event.

The Stop Trump Coalition, which is organising national protests against the president today, says it is “naive” to think that Trump will help the UK as a result of today’s visit. A spokesperson for the coalition issued this statement this morning:

We have heard from people across the political spectrum who will be joining in the protest today, because the majority agree that we should not be rolling out the red carpet for Donald Trump. The large numbers of people marching today are telling Starmer and his government that they must stand up to Trump.

There is a clear difference between having diplomatic relationships and hosting an authoritarian leader for the pageantry of a state visit. Trump is clearly in Putin’s pocket — and we would not allow Putin in the UK, let alone invite him for a state visit.

It is naive to think that because the UK wines and dines him that Donald Trump will have any interest in supporting the UK in the future. Starmer is selling out the UK for a tech deal that opens our country up to an invasion by big tech, without doing anything for the issues that matter to regular people. The only people who win in this deal are people like Peter Thiel, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg.

As the Guardian reports, the long-coveted deal to slash US steel and aluminium tariffs to zero was shelved on the eve of Donald Trump’s state visit to Britain

The Liberal Democrats say this shows Trump is an unreliable partner. In a statement Daisy Cooper, the Lib Dem deputy leader, said:

It looks like the government has thrown in the towel instead of fighting to stand up for the UK steel industry.

We were told US tariffs on UK steel would be lifted completely, now that’s turned out to be yet another promise Trump has reneged on.

It just shows Trump is an unreliable partner and that rewarding a bully only gets you so far.

The best way to protect our economy is to stand with our allies in Europe and the Commonwealth and end Trump’s damaging trade war for good.

Lucy Powell has hit out at the “sexist” framing of her deputy Labour leadership campaign, with people claiming she and her rival, Bridget Phillipson, are standing as “proxies” for two men, Aletha Adu reports.

Most of Donald Trump’s policies horrify progressives and leftwingers in Britain, including Labour party members and supporters, but Keir Starmer has said almost nothing critical about the Trump administration because he has taken a view that maintaining good relations with the White House is in the national interest.

In an article in the Guardian today, Sadiq Khan, the Labour mayor of London, has urged Starmer to be more critical. He says:

I understand the UK government’s position of being pragmatic on the international stage and wanting to maintain a good relationship with the leader of the most powerful country in the world. Faced with a revanchist Russia, Europe’s security feels less certain now than at any time since the second world war. And the threat of even higher US tariffs is ever present.

But it’s also important to ensure our special relationship includes being open and honest with each other. At times, this means being a critical friend and speaking truth to power – and being clear that we reject the politics of fear and division. Showing President Trump why he must back Ukraine, not Putin. Making the case for taking the climate emergency seriously. Urging the president to stop the tariff wars that are tearing global trade apart. And putting pressure on him to do much more to end Israel’s horrific onslaught on Gaza, as only he has the power to bring Israel’s brazen and repeated violations of international law to an end.

Khan also says he is in favour of Londoners protesting against Trump to “tell President Trump and his followers that we cannot be divided by those who seek to sow fear.”

Khan and Trump have a long history of slagging each other off. (Khan is also a Muslim, who may or may not be relevant to why Trump singles him out for special criticism.)

On the Today programme this morning Bryan Lanza, a Trump ally who worked for the president during his first campaign for the White House, was asked if Trump would be bothered by comments like those from Khan. No, was the answer. Lanza explained:

[Trump] receives enthusiasm everywhere he goes. There’s obviously opposition, but at the end of the day, those who are opposed, they don’t matter.

The American people are the ones who voted this president in. They validated his vision for the country. And if Europe has a problem with the American people’s vision, that’s Europe’s problem. That’s not President Trump’s problem.

As for the mayor of London, who cares? I mean, he’s nowhere relevant in any conversation that’s effective to any foreign policy that President Trump’s involved in. He’s just a local mayor. I think he should focus more on traffic, on handling the trash, than trying to elevate himself to the diplomatic stage.

Britain and the US have struck a tech deal that could bring billions of pounds of investment to the UK as President Donald Trump arrived for his second state visit, PA Media reports. PA says:

Keir Starmer said the agreement represented “a general step change” in Britain’s relationship with the US that would deliver “growth, security and opportunity up and down the country”.

The “tech prosperity deal”, announced as Trump arrived in the UK last night will see the UK and US co-operate in areas including artificial intelligence (AI), quantum computing and nuclear power.

It comes alongside £31bn of investment in Britain from America’s top technology companies, including £22bn from Microsoft.

Microsoft’s investment, the largest ever made by the company in the UK, will fund an expansion of Britain’s AI infrastructure, which Labour sees as a key part of its efforts to secure economic growth, and the construction of the country’s largest AI supercomputer.

Brad Smith, vice chairman and president of the firm, said it had “many conversations” with the UK government, including No 10, “every month”, adding that the investment would have been “inconceivable because of the regulatory climate” in previous years.

“You don’t spend £22bn unless you have confidence in where the country, the government and the market are all going,” he said. “And this reflects that level of confidence.”

Microsoft is backing tech firm Nscale to contribute towards developing a major data centre in the UK, which the company said would help build out Britain’s cloud and AI infrastructure.

Asked how much electricity capacity would be required for the build-out and how this would be supplied, Smith said: “We already have the contracts in place for the power that will be needed for the investments that we’re announcing here.”

Officials said the investment enabled by the tech partnership could speed up development of new medicines and see collaboration on research in areas such as space exploration and defence.

Starmer said: “This tech prosperity deal marks a generational step change in our relationship with the US, shaping the futures of millions of people on both sides of the Atlantic, and delivering growth, security and opportunity up and down the country.”

Here is the government news release about the deal.

In the Commons yesterday MPs debated the decision to sack Peter Mandelson as the UK ambassador to Washington last week because new emails revealed that his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, the paedophile sex trafficker, was closer than he had previously disclosed. One MP said Donald Trump must think the UK government “complete plonkers” for their handling of this because, by sacking Mandelson, Keir Starmer has put Epstein back at the top of the UK news agenda just ahead of Trump’s arrival. And Trump, of course, is deeply embarrassed about his own past friendship with Epstein.

British protesters are doing their best to ensure Trump can’t ignore the story. Four people have been arrested after images ofTrump alongside Epstein were projected on to Windsor Castle last night. Reuters has more here.

Starmer is not the only leader Trump will be meeting who has “sacked” a close ally over his Epstein links. King Charles, continuing an approach adopted by his mother, the late Queen, has excluded his brother, Prince Andrew, from playing a role in public life follow the scandal about Andrew’s own links with Epstein.

Good morning. Official Britain is laying out the red carpet for Donald Trump today. It is the first full day of his unprecedented state visit, and he will spend it with King Charles at Windsor Castle enjoying the finest pageantry the nation can lay on. Keir Starmer, like other Western leaders, has concluded that the key to getting positive outcomes from Trump is flattery and shameless sucking up, and (not for the first time) the royal family is being deployed to this end.

But civic Britain will also have its say on Trump today, and – perhaps mindful of his obsession with big crowds and his (supposed) love for free speech – there will be protests all over the country, with the main one in London. When Mike Pence, Trump’s vice president in the Trump’s first administration, was asked he felt about being booed one night when he attended the theatre, he said that was “the sound of freedom”. Trump’s response to protesters is much darker. But there is almost no chance of his hearing “the sound of freedom” today; his state visit is taking place entirely behind closed doors.

I will be focusing largely on the state visit today, but I will be covering non-Trump UK politics too.

Here is our overnight story about Trump arriving in the UK.

Here is Rafael Behr’s Guardian about the potential flaws in Starmer’s obsequious approach to handling the US president.

And here is an Rafael’s conclusion.

Downing Street denies there is a choice to be made between restored relations with Brussels and Washington, but Trump is a jealous master. Fealty to the super-potentate across the Atlantic is an all-in gamble. There is an opportunity cost in terms of strengthening alliances closer to home, with countries that respect treaties and international rules.

That tension may be avoided if Trump’s reign turns out to be an aberration. He is old. Maybe a successor, empowered by a moderate Congress, will reverse the US republic’s slide into tyranny. It is possible. But is it the likeliest scenario in a country where political violence is being normalised at an alarming rate? What is the probability of an orderly transfer of power away from a ruling party that unites religious fundamentalists, white supremacists, wild-eyed tech-utopian oligarchs and opportunist kleptocrats who cast all opposition in shades of treason?

These are not people who humbly surrender power at the ballot box, or even run the risk of fair elections. They are not people on whose values and judgment Britain should be betting its future prosperity or national security.

Here is the timetable for the day.

11.55am: Donald Trump arrives at Windsor Castle by helicopter. His programme than includes a carriage procession through grounds (at 12.10pm), a ceremonial welcome (at 12.20pm), a visit to Royal Collection exhibition (at 2.15pm), a tour of St George’s Chapel (at 3pm) and a beating retreat ceremony and flypast (at 4.20pm).

2pm: Anti-Trump speakers address a rally at Portland Place in London, before staging a march to Parliament Square.

Evening: Fox News broadcasts an interview with Trump.

8.30pm: Trump attends the state banquet at Windsor Castle.

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