Adam Forrest, Chris Stevenson, Jon Sharman, Chris Riotta, Zamira Rahim
Trump UK visit: Farage meets president as Tory leader hopefuls reject Trump's demand NHS is opened to US firms
Donald Trump has insisted the NHS would be “on the table” in any post-Brexit trade talks. “When you’re dealing with trade everything is on the table. So NHS or anything else, a lot more than that,” the US president said at a press conference with Theresa May.
He earlier promised, not for the first time, a “very substantial” post-Brexit trade deal with the UK as he met Ms May on the second day of his state visit, following a lavish royal banquet at Buckingham Palace. The leaders also discussed the role of Huawei in the UK’s 5G network.
Meanwhile, Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage has said he had a “good meeting” with the president at the US ambassador’s residence and that Mr Trump “really believes in Brexit”.
Mr Farage was photographed being driven into Winfield House on Tuesday afternoon.
He later tweeted: “Good meeting with President Trump - he really believes in Brexit and is loving his trip to London.”
Mr Farage has campaigned for years to take Britain out of the European Union and is one of Trump’s most prominent British supporters. The president has called him a friend.
Mr Farage’s newly founded Brexit Party was the big winner in last month’s European Parliament elections in Britain, scooping up support from voters angry that the UK has not left the EU.
He has criticised the prime minister's divorce deal with the bloc and said Britain should leave the EU without an agreement.
Mr Trump praised Ms May’s handling of Brexit on Tuesday, saying she had gotten a good deal.
Additional reporting by AP. Please allow a moment for the live blog to load
The Queen appeared to issue a coded caution over Donald Trump's readiness to disrupt institutions like the UN on the first day of a state visit which began with a lavish royal welcome, writes Andrew Woodcock.
At a state banquet she hosted for the president in the Buckingham Palace ballroom, the monarch spoke of the “close and long-standing friendship” between the two allies.
However, in proposing a toast to her guest, she added: “After the shared sacrifices of the Second World War, Britain and the United States worked with other allies to build an assembly of international institutions to ensure that the horrors of conflict would never be repeated.
Protesters described Donald Trump as “frightening and dangerous” as they gathered in London yesterday to mark the arrival of the US president for his state visit, ahead of a planned rally on Tuesday when thousands are expected to take part, writesTom Batchelor.
Demonstrators opposed to Mr Trump’s visit said his invitation to the UK was “disgraceful” and warned attempts to secure a post-Brexit trade deal with him would backfire.
Others waited outside Buckingham Palace armed with pro-Trump placards, American flags and “Make America Great Again” caps.
The Queen and Theresa May appear to have plotted a one-two punch of reminders to Donald Trump of the importance of the US-UK alliance and of international ties.
The "America first" president is notoriously sceptical of transnational groups like Nato.
Last night the Queen reminded Mr Trump that nations had come together after the Second World War to work "together to safeguard a hard-won peace".
And on Tuesday Ms May is set to gift the Republican a framed, typescript draft of the Atlantic Charter, the declaration signed by Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt in August 1941 setting out common goals for the world including freer trade, disarmament and the right to self-determination of all people.
The declaration helped lay the groundwork for the UN and the World Trade Organisation. The gift is a copy of Churchill's personal draft of the document, with his handwritten revisions in red pencil.
In fact, one of the balloon's operators explained why she was doing it in a piece for us.
__
Tomorrow, as Donald Trump proceeds with his state visit, I’ll be part of a team of people babysitting our Trump Baby blimp as he soars through the skies of London, writes Anna Vickerstaff in our Voices opinion section.
Last year Trump Baby joined 250,000 people on the streets of London with a further 150,000 people around the UK to protest his visit. Upon seeing the balloon, Trump said “I guess when they put out blimps to make me feel unwelcome, no reason for me to go to London”. That’s exactly the point.
We know Trump isn’t a joke – he is responsible for rampant xenophobia, sexism and transphobia and the creeping rise of far right politics. His climate denial and persistent facilitation of the fossil fuel industry is a death sentence for communities in the global south. But if flying a balloon caricature is what gets under his skin – then that’s exactly what we’re going to do.
Donald Trump had to be rescued from a tricky moment by his wife, Melania, when he failed to recognise a statue at Buckingham Palace that he had given the Queen last summer, writes Jane Dalton.
The US president was shown a pewter horse that he gave as a gift when they met in July last year, and was asked whether he recognised it. He replied “no”.
Melania came to his rescue, saying: “I think we gave that to the Queen.” He had given the thoroughbred statue in polished pewter on his visit to Windsor.
A huge effigy of Donald Trump atop a golden toilet has been wheeled into Trafalgar Square ahead of protests against the US leader.
The 16ft creation is reportedly a talking robot. It has an oversized head wearing Mr Trump's signature red baseball cap.
A 16ft talking robot effigy of Donald Trump sitting on a gold toilet in Trafalgar Square, London on the second day of his state visit to the UK (Jacob King/PA)
Mr Trump will pivot from pomp to policy on day two of his state visit, with a business meeting early in the day followed by bilateral talks - not one-to-one - with Theresa May, Jeremy Hunt and officials.
Day two will also see the largest organised protest of the trip in central London.
And, as Mr Trump prepares to talk trade with the PM...
An investigation has revealed the risk of food poisoning because of “dangerous” practices at a US chicken factory, ahead of trade talks which could force the UK to accept the meat after Brexit, writes Rob Merrick.
The undercover probe by Channel 4 laid bare the danger of cross-contamination with the deadly bacteria salmonella and campylobacter, because of poor standards outlawed by the EU.
As normal in the US, the chicken is washed in chemicals – a practice banned in the UK under EU law because scientists fear it does not remove bacteria and simply masks safety failures.
In about 10 minutes' time, Mr Trump will depart the US ambassador's residence at Winfield House for Buckingham Palace, from where he will head to St James' Palace for a business roundtable meeting.
That is set to last from 9.45am to 11.10am, according to a White House schedule. After that he is due at Downing Street for an "expanded bilateral meeting".
While protesters are due to make their presence felt today, Mr Trump's arrival yesterday did not go without opposition.
A teenager mowed an anti-Trump message, complete with a giant penis, into the grass of his family home ahead of the US president’s UK state visit, writes Zamira Rahim.
Ollie Nancarrow spent his weekend mowing the words “Oi Trump” into his lawn, near Hatfield Heath, in Essex.
The 18-year-old also used the mower to etch a giant polar bear, penis and the words “climate change is real” into the grass.
Mr Trump was faced with giant projections of ‘USS John McCain’ and Obama approval ratings on London landmarks during his state visit, writes Chiara Giordano.
The anti-Brexit campaign group Led By Donkeys tweeted the US president an image of a USS John McCain cap projected on to Madame Tussauds in the capital.
They said: “We read the story about the sailors on a US warship being ordered to hide from you because you’re triggered by the name on their hats.”
New York mayor Bill de Blasio has demanded Donald Trump apologise for his “extreme” personal attack on Mr de Blasio’s London counterpart, Sadiq Khan, writes Peter Stubley.
The city leaders joined forces to fire back at the US president, who hurled insults at them both on Twitter as he arrived for his state visit to the UK on Monday.
Mr Trump denigrated Mr Khan for his height and compared the Labour mayor to “our very dumb and incompetent Mayor of NYC, de Blasio”.
