Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happen, including the first day of President Trump’s state visit to the UK
11.12pm BST
We’re going to close down this live blog now. Thanks for reading and commenting. Here’s a summary of the day’s events:
Related: 41-gun salutes and a Twitter tirade: Donald Trump arrives in UK
10.48pm BST
The US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, has been reiterating the White House’s stance on a US-UK trade deal, saying he regards it as a priority – but declining to say whether Washington will look to do a deal with the EU or the UK first. He has told NBC’s Euronews:
We’ve got to see how Brexit proceeds and how that timing goes, but yes, [a UK-US deal is] a priority for us. We have a deep, long relationship with the United Kingdom. We have important trade relationships. I’m here in the Netherlands today. They’re huge investors in the United States. The United States are huge investors inside of the Netherlands. We’re having a global entrepreneurial summit because of the two deep commitments to rule of law, trade, openness, entrepreneurship, as the centre of what we do.
We want to do that with the United Kingdom. Yes, we will. When Brexit is completed, as the people of the United Kingdom have demanded, we do intend to work on a free trade agreement with them – one that’s fair, reciprocal, based on mutual trust, and then we will both get after it and grow both of our economies.
10.33pm BST
Theresa May will give Donald Trump a copy of one of the most significant documents in the transatlantic “special relationship” to mark his state visit. The prime minister and her husband, Philip, will present Trump with a framed typescript draft of the 1941 Atlantic Charter, agreed by president Franklin D Roosevelt and Winston Churchill, setting out their vision for the post-war world.
The US first lady, Melania Trump, will be given a bespoke tea set from designer Emma Bridgewater.
It’s a copy of Churchill’s personal draft of August 12, 1941, with his amendments in red pencil. There were no further amendments made and Churchill kept the draft on his wall as a reminder. A copy has kindly been provided with the consent of Winston Churchill’s family.
10.22pm BST
Boris Johnson has lodged an application for a judicial review over a decision to summons him to court over claims he lied during the 2016 Brexit referendum campaign, the campaigner who brought the prosecution against him says.
Marcus Ball says Johnson’s legal team is seeking an order that it was unlawful for Westminster magistrates court to issue the summons against the former foreign secretary, and to suspend the criminal proceedings against him until the application for judicial review was determined.
9.34pm BST
The White House’s tweet linked to a statement, in which Washington said Trump wanted to strengthen economic ties with the UK through an ambitious new trade agreement.
The United Kingdom is one of the largest markets for US exports and one of the largest suppliers of US imports.
In February, President Trump outlined his negotiating objectives to strike an ambitious trade agreement with the United Kingdom after it leaves the EU.
9.27pm BST
Here are some more on the comments made by Trump as the state banquet opened this evening. He told the Queen:
Your Majesty, Melania and I are profoundly honoured to be your guests for this historic state visit.
Thank you for your warm welcome, for this beautiful weather, your gracious hospitality, and Your Majesty’s nearly seven decades of treasured friendship with the United States of America.
9.25pm BST
In his remarks, Trump made a reference to the UK’s endeavours in the second world war that can be interpreted as a coded reference to Brexit, of which he is a supporter. He told the Queen:
The courage of the United Kingdom’s sons and daughters [during the second world war] ensured that your destiny would always remain in your own hands.
President Trump supports Brexit being accomplished in a way that maintains global economic stability while securing voters’ wishes for U.K. independence. https://t.co/AhOBiZCZ19
9.14pm BST
The Queen also mentioned the US and UK’s “strong cultural links and shared heritage” and said the two nations were “bound by the strength and breadth of our economic ties”. She said:
Mr President, as we look to the future, I am confident that our common values and shared interests will continue to unite us.
Tonight we celebrate an alliance that has helped to ensure the safety and prosperity of both our peoples for decades, and which I believe will endure for many years to come.
9.08pm BST
9.05pm BST
In her speech, the Queen spoke of the “new challenges” the US and the UK face in the 21st century, and stressed the bonds between the two countries.
As we face the new challenges of the 21st century, the anniversary of D-day reminds us of all that our countries have achieved together.
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.
9.00pm BST
Trump rises and says he and his wife are honoured to be present. He thanks the Queen for her hospitality.
He acknowledges that the two heads of state will commemorate the D-day anniversary this week and says the UK “showed the world what it means to be British” during the Blitz that preceded that invasion.
8.53pm BST
The Queen is delivering her speech to open the state banquet. She says she is glad of an opportunity to demonstrate the importance of the relationship between the US and the UK.
She tells the US president the two nations’ armed forces have cooperated regularly – including on D-day; the 75th anniversary of which Trump will commemorate on Thursday.
8.30pm BST
The Trump dynasty is mingling with the royal family at the state banquet, where industry chiefs – rather than Hollywood stars – have gathered.
In the Buckingham Palace ballroom, the white-clothed, horse shoe-shaped table has been laid out with George IV’s silver gilt grand service dinner set.
8.04pm BST
The chancellor, Philip Hammond, has been accused of being blind to the scale of poverty in the UK after he dismissed a UN report that found the government’s austerity programme had caused misery for many Britons.
The report by the UN’s rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, Philip Alston, said 14 million people in the UK live in poverty and 1.5 million were destitute. It claimed the government’s “punitive, mean-spirited, and often callous” austerity policies were often intended to bring about social re-engineering.
I reject the idea that there are vast numbers of people facing dire poverty in this country. I don’t accept the UN rapporteur’s report at all. I think that’s a nonsense. Look around you, that’s not what we see in this country.
Of course, there are people struggling with the cost of living. I understand that. But the point being is that we are addressing these things through getting to the root causes.
Multi-millionaire Hammond lives in a different world to the rest of us. He displays a brutal complacency about the scale of poverty and human suffering his austerity programme has created.
Heartless, without compassion or any sense of humanity, after these remarks he demonstrates he is not fit to hold office and should consider his position.
7.53pm BST
It appears Trump has arrived at Buckingham Palace in Marine One for the state banquet.
Two US helicopters fly into the grounds of Buckingham Palace, one of which is though to have Trump inside pic.twitter.com/5PXARH3A9u
A sneak peek of the State Banquet table in the Buckingham Palace Ballroom.
The final finishing touches will be added shortly before The Queen welcomes @POTUS, @FLOTUS, members of the Royal Family and around 170 guests to celebrate the #USStateVisit. pic.twitter.com/yFNCx1vYSH
7.23pm BST
Donald Trump claimed he has not seen any protests. About 100 demonstrators are outside the gates of Buckingham Palace. They are protesting against the US president being handed “the red-carpet treatment”.
Waving banners emblazoned with messages declaring the president was “evil”, scores of protesters blowing whistles and horns massed on a green outside the palace.
It will be cucumber sandwiches over champagne. It doesn’t matter how boorish he is or what ridiculous things he says, I think very few people will challenge him. That’s not to our credit.Sometimes you have to say to a bully they’re wrong and stand up for basic rights.He’s threatened nuclear war, he’s behaved like a boorish idiot, he doesn’t even respect basic diplomatic values.
He’s a businessman, he’s not a politician. He doesn’t know how to talk to people. If it doesn’t suit him, he calls it fake news.
I think it’s important that ordinary people from the UK life myself show we don’t want him here.
7.10pm BST
The US is ready to do a trade deal once the UK “gets rid of the shackles”, Donald Trump says.
London part of trip is going really well. The Queen and the entire Royal family have been fantastic. The relationship with the United Kingdom is very strong. Tremendous crowds of well wishers and people that love our Country. Haven’t seen any protests yet, but I’m sure the….
….Fake News will be working hard to find them. Great love all around. Also, big Trade Deal is possible once U.K. gets rid of the shackles. Already starting to talk!
Behind the pomp is a simple truth about trade. Mr Trump is doing what he can to destroy the international rules-based order on which the government’s “Global Britain” strategy is based. His administration is systematically undermining the World Trade Organization, in which Brexiters have such touchingly naive faith. And he is destroying the multilateral agreements in which UK governments have invested so much political capital: the climate change agreement; the nuclear proliferation deal with Iran; the UN Arms Trade Treaty — all are being shredded by the Trump administration.
The hoped-for bilateral trade deal between Britain and the US looks less appetising by the day. Mr Trump’s crude mercantilism — based on bilateral trade balances — will not suit a country such as the UK with a trade surplus. The US is clear that it wants lower food standards to please its agricultural exporters. It wants to bypass British courts to settle disputes. And it would like preferential access to public service procurements, including the NHS. Even if the government dodges these negotiating icebergs, the draft agreement would have to pass the US Congress, where House Speaker Nancy Pelosi lies in wait prepared to reject any deal if the UK ditches Northern Ireland’s Good Friday Agreement in pursuit of Brexit.
6.31pm BST
The leader of the Liberal Democrats, Sir Vince Cable, turned down an invitation to attend this evening’s royal banquet.
Today, writing for the Financial Times, he criticised the decision to invite Donald Trump at all; denouncing it as political manoeuvring by Theresa May as she sought to secure the UK’s place in the world after the Brexit vote.
President Trump will not be the first or last nasty piece of work to enjoy a state visit, but he is among the most dangerous.
His attitudes to women and to race are abhorrent. And his crude protectionism has placed the world on the brink of trade war between the US and China, with an exposed Brexit Britain stuck in the crossfire. No amount of pomp, circumstance and royal regalia can disguise the fact that Mr Trump poses a real risk to the world, and to Britain.
I will not attend the state banquet with Donald Trump when he visits.
We should not be beguiled by pomp and circumstance into hobnobbing with a man who is on record as a misogynist and a racist. Rolling out the red carpet to Trump is a shameful stain on this government #BBCQT pic.twitter.com/LJzRc8Vo5t
6.16pm BST
The housing and communities secretary, James Brokenshire, has faced criticism from Whitehall officials after suggesting people should be allowed to dip into their pension funds to afford the deposit on a first home.
A DWP source said the idea had not been discussed with the work and pensions secretary, Amber Rudd, or her department, and that officials had outlined their worries to No 10.
We cannot support this policy because the evidence shows it will be risky and does not help the people it intends to help. The housing market doesn’t need people to dip into their pensions to buy more houses.
Related: Brokenshire criticised for suggesting first-time buyers dip into pension
5.46pm BST
In an interview for the BBC’s Newsnight, Philip Hammond, the chancellor and one of the most pro-European members of the cabinet, has suggesting that those Tory leadership candidates proposing to renegotiate the withdrawal agreement (which is almost all of them) are not being realistic. He said:
My challenge to all of the candidates is: Explain to me how you will avoid becoming Theresa May mark II, stuck in a holding pattern.
An extension of time to try to renegotiate, when the EU have already said they have finished the negotiation and, indeed, have disbanded their negotiating team, strikes me as a not very auspicious policy.
We have a solemn obligation to find a solution which avoids both of those outcomes [no-deal or no Brexit]. That means that even at this late stage, a deal.
It means people in parliament having to stop pontificating, get off their high horses and understand that we will all have to give up something to get to a deal that will work. We will all be grumpy about it, we will all be dissatisfied. But in many ways that is the only way forward for the country.
5.37pm BST
5.28pm BST
Jeremy Corbyn will be addressing the anti-Trump demo tomorrow, but not the parliamentary Labour party, the Evening Standard’s Joe Murphy reports.
Oh… Jeremy Corbyn!
Jezza cancels appearance at the PLP tomorrow citing by-election trip … yet still has time to go to Trafalgar Sq to protest Trump pic.twitter.com/EckxzpAtl1
5.08pm BST
President Trump has arrived back at Winfield House, the US ambassador’s residence, via helicopter, following his tea with the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall at Clarence House.
5.04pm BST
And while we’re on the subject of the anti-Trump demonstration tomorrow, Labour has just announced that Jeremy Corbyn, the party leader, will be attending and speaking at it.
Earlier he tweeted a message of support for the protesters. (See 12.33pm.)
4.58pm BST
In another Guardian article, my colleague Owen Jones argues that the protests against President Trump due in London tomorrow won’t just be about who Trump is, but about what he represents.
Here is an extract.
These protests won’t simply be about Trump and the perverse reality TV show he’s treated the world to ever since he fatefully declared for the presidency. The protests will be about Trumpism: about confronting a resurgent global far right, defending the rights of women and minorities, fighting the climate emergency, opposing the threat of war, and standing against an attempt to gut the NHS and trash hard-won rights and freedoms. Trump will have left our shores by Wednesday: sadly, our own Trumpism will remain and, in the coming months, we must continue to fight it.
Related: These protests aren’t just about Trump, they’re about everything he stands for | Owen Jones
4.55pm BST
In the US, my colleague Jamiles Lartey is writing the US Politics Live blog. He is focusing on Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and influential adviser, refusing to deny in an interview that Trump’s birtherism (his assertion that Barack Obama might not be a US citizen) was racist.
Related: Jared Kushner refuses to say whether Trump’s birtherism was racist – live
4.48pm BST
The Labour backbencher Kate Hoey, who is one of the few MPs in her party who enthusiastically supports Brexit, like Donald Trump, has criticised her colleagues how have been complaining about his visit. (See 11.06am.)
Saddened by the hysterical reaction to visit of @POTUS by some Labour colleagues A democratically elected President of our closest ally should be welcomed whether we agree with his views or not. HM the Queen shows the world the nature of the U.K. @USAmbUK
4.39pm BST
President Trump has now arrived at Clarence House, where he is having tea with the Prince of Wales.
4.37pm BST
According to the White House pool, when President Trump was in Westminster Abbey he paused at white marble slab commemorating Lord Byron and inspected the stone marking the grave of Robert Adam, the Scottish architect.
4.33pm BST
4.22pm BST
Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, has broadened his attack on President Trump. He has posted a video on Twitter saying Trump’s values are the opposite of London’s values and Britain’s values.
Here’s an extract.
President Trump, if you are watching this, your values, and what you stand for, are the opposite of London’s values and the values of this country. We think diversity is not a weakness. Diversity is a strength. We respect women, and we think they are equal to men.
We think it’s important to safeguard the rights of all of us, particularly the vulnerable and the maginalised. When you are president of the US, you have a massive leadership role. You have a massive platform as well. People follow what you do. What we have seen over the last few years in the USA is a rolling back of much of the progress made in previous decades. It is really important we continue to move forwards.
Women have the right to autonomy over their own bodies and their reproductive rights should be protected – in London, the USA, everywhere. pic.twitter.com/5M04P5LKdE
3.36pm BST
President Trump was welcomed at Westminster Abbey by the dean of Westminster, the Very Reverend Dr John Hall, who led prayers at the Grave of the Unknown Warrior. As the Press Association reports, a wreath was laid in honour of the two world wars and more recent conflicts, as is tradition with a state visit – President George W Bush laid a wreath in 2003 and President Obama in 2011. Standing at the grave, the president touched his hand on the wreath and kept his eyes closed during the prayer.
3.31pm BST
3.27pm BST
The proposal from Boris Johnson, the favourite in the Tory leadership contest, to ensure that every school in England gets at least £5,000 per pupil (see 10.51am) could amount to a spending increase of just £48.6m, or 0.1%, according to a report for Schools Week.
3.21pm BST
From CBS’s Mark Knoller
With the help of 2 US Marines, Pres and Mrs Trump place a wreath at the Grave of the Unknown Warrior in Westminster Abbey. Then stand for a moment of silent reflection. pic.twitter.com/iUqUEUZ55P
3.20pm BST
More on what President Trump and the Queen viewed from the Royal Collection.
Among items the palace decided to show Trump:
—description of a conversation between George III and George Washington
—photos of George VI visit to DC in 1939
—horse statuette Trump gave queen in 2018
—bits of Scottish ancestry, including tartans, and photos of royals golfing. pic.twitter.com/GcprgfePgM
3.09pm BST
President Trump has arrived in Westminster Abbey, where he will be laying a wreath on the tomb of the unknown warrior.
3.04pm BST
President Trump’s convoy is now leaving Buckingham Palace for Westminster Abbey. It’s not far. By the time the first car arrives, the last vehicle may just be leaving the Palace.
Presidential Motorcade departs Buckingham Palace en route Westminster Abbey, where Pres Trump will place a wreath at the Grave of the Unknown Warrior. pic.twitter.com/EFRZ8FYXm1
2.57pm BST
This is what the White House pool has filed on the visit to the Royal Gallery.
The president and the queen entered a lovely pink-walled gallery at 2:28 pm for a tour of objects in the royal collection chosen for Trump’s review. Many have obvious ties to the United States or the Americas, including a map of New York and Audubon birds.
The first couple and the Queen are now making their way around the display now, with a guide. Conversation mostly inaudible.
2.51pm BST
And this is from Bloomberg’s Jennifer Jacobs.
Trump, Melania, the queen, Prince Charles and Camilla are looking at a collection at Buckingham Palace of historical items.
Jared and Ivanka are with Prince Harry.
Mnuchin, John Bolton, Kellyanne Conway and Sarah Huckabee Sanders also on this tour of memorabilia.
2.50pm BST
These are from CBS’s Mark Knoller.
After lunch in the palance, The Queen escorts Pres and Mrs Trump ino the Picture Gallery to see Royal Family items of “historical interest” to he United States. A portrait of George Washington is visible on the far table. pic.twitter.com/6mWVsOFIeL
Pres takes a closer look at some photographs in the Royal Collection. pic.twitter.com/Sq5aL63eva
One of the items on display is an invitation from FDR to King George VI in 1939. Also photographs of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth at Hyde Park that same year. pic.twitter.com/9U5OmaYJ3S
Also on display from the Buckingham Palace Collection was a copy of the Declaration of Independence – under the heading – A Tale of Two Georges: King George III and George Washington. pic.twitter.com/4ULIomtvS3
2.45pm BST
President Trump is still in Buckingham Palace, where the Queen is showing him items from the Royal Collection.
2.40pm BST
Bill de Blasio, the Democrat mayor of New York, has said that he is happy to be compared to Sadiq Khan by Donald Trump. (See 9.17am.)
#ConDon takes another shot at me. But I’m a total @SadiqKhan stan, so consider any comparison a compliment. Plus the Mayor is a much better British doppelgänger than Brexit Bojo…. https://t.co/HkSbR8Hzml
One of Trump’s few uses is that he reminds American and British people of how much we like each other. https://t.co/z1Y7XH0bJL
2.30pm BST
The Washington Post story on President Trump’s state visit to the UK is headlined: “As Trump’s state visit looms, Britain seems a reluctant host.” Here’s an extract:
In Britain, a state visit doesn’t just mean dining with the prime minister, or even tea with the queen. It means an extraordinary level of pomp and pageantry, plus a sleepover at Buckingham Palace.
At least, it normally does.
2.14pm BST
Donald Trump clearly thinks the UK would be a better place if we were able to watch Fox News. (See 12.54pm.) But, as the Guardian reported at the time, 21st Century Fox took it off air in the UK in 2017 because it was no longer commercially viable. Subsequently Ofcom, the media regulator, ruled that some of its programmes did not comply with UK impartiality rules.
1.52pm BST
1.49pm BST
If the 13 candidates who have declared that they are running for the Conservative party leadership were to form their own group in the Commons, they would be the fourth largest party – bigger than the Lib Dems, Change UK or the DUP.
This morning, in his speech to the Policy Exchange thinktank, James Brokenshire, the housing secretary, said that those candidates with no realistic chance of winning should stand down now, to enable the party to conclude the contest quickly. He said:
We simply do not have any time to waste.
We simply do not have the luxury of weeks of navel gazing or days and days of whittling candidates down to the final two and talking to ourselves.
1.29pm BST
The ConservativeHome website has been keeping a tally of how many Tory MPs are publicly backing each leadership candidate. It was last updated this morning, when it had Boris Johnson in the lead, with 30 endorsements, ahead of Jeremy Hunt and Michael Gove, both on 29.
Since then six more MPs have come out for Johnson: Jack Lopresti, Simon Hart, Anne Main, Sir Paul Beresford, Andrew Stephenson, and Graham Stuart.
I’m backing @BorisJohnson to be our next Prime Minister. He is the only one who can unite our party, our country and deliver #Brexit by October 31st.
Let’s join him in moving forward to deliver what our great nation expects and deserves. @BackBoris #BackBoris pic.twitter.com/r44DY4D5HK
Vital we choose right leader for the current times. That means an orderly brexit, restoring hope and saving the U.K. from the horrors of the hard left. Truth is that only one person, @BorisJohnson has a realistic chance of success. #BackBoris
We need a Prime Minister who can create a hopeful vision for our country and deliver Brexit. That’s why I’m supporting @BorisJohnson to be our next Prime Minister @BackBoris #BackBoris pic.twitter.com/jgzqyq9W2v
We’ve got a great future. Let’s back Boris together to deliver it. pic.twitter.com/9bmxphWYp6
1.03pm BST
And here is Guardian video of the president’s arrival at Buckingham Palace.
1.02pm BST
Here are more pictures from the president’s arrival at Buckingham Palace.
12.54pm BST
What was Donald Trump doing at Winfield House, the US ambassador’s residence, before he arrived at Buckingham Palace? Watching TV, it seems.
Anyone used to spending time in foreign hotels will know what it is like to be disappointed at the choice of channels available. Trump seems to have had the same problem.
Just arrived in the United Kingdom. The only problem is that @CNN is the primary source of news available from the U.S. After watching it for a short while, I turned it off. All negative & so much Fake News, very bad for U.S. Big ratings drop. Why doesn’t owner @ATT do something?
I believe that if people stoped using or subscribing to @ATT, they would be forced to make big changes at @CNN, which is dying in the ratings anyway. It is so unfair with such bad, Fake News! Why wouldn’t they act. When the World watches @CNN, it gets a false picture of USA. Sad!
12.48pm BST
According to the White House pool, along with Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, other US visitors on the balcony included: Steven Mnuchin, the US treasury secretary; Woody Johnson, the US ambassador; and Kellyanne Conway, Dan Scavino, and Steven Miller, advisers to Trump.
12.40pm BST
Pres Trump is escorted by Prince Charles and a Grenadier officer to inspect the Honor Guard assembled for the @POTUS visit. pic.twitter.com/KICxKLF3jD
12.39pm BST
12.37pm BST
Meanwhile, back at Buckingham Palace …
JUST IN: Queen Elizabeth II welcomes Pres. Trump and first lady Melania Trump to Buckingham Palace at start of three-day state visit to the U.K. https://t.co/J2JIq7Sxfi pic.twitter.com/jWxRutSKQQ
The Queen escorts @POTUS and @FLOTUS back out to the Terrance for the playing of the national anthems. pic.twitter.com/d3ix7JD7gb
12.33pm BST
Jeremy Corbyn is encouraging people to join the anti-Trump demonstration tomorrow. He has just posted this on Twitter.
Tomorrow’s protest against Donald Trump’s state visit is an opportunity to stand in solidarity with those he’s attacked in America, around the world and in our own country – including, just this morning, @SadiqKhan.
12.30pm BST
Earlier I said that being denounced by President Trump would do Sadiq Khan no harm at all when it comes to be re-elected as mayor of London next year. (See 9.17am.)
The polling figures back this up. Last month YouGov published a poll (pdf) suggesting that 63% of Britons think Trump has been a poor or terrible president. But, for Londoners, that figure is 71%, the poll suggests, and only 9% of people in the capital think Trump has been a great or good president. The only place where Trump polls worse is Scotland, where 72% of people think he has been poor or terrible.
12.20pm BST
The president was met by Prince Charles.
12.17pm BST
From CBS’s Mark Knoller
Marine One on the lawn at Buckingham Palace where Pres and Mrs Trump will receive formal welcome from the Queen. pic.twitter.com/8oEytYS240
12.15pm BST
12.12pm BST
These are from my colleague Heather Stewart, who was at the Downing Street lobby briefing.
NEW – Number 10 confirms there will be no formal, one-on-one bilateral between the PM and Donald Trump: they will meet in Downing St alongside their respective delegations. Though she will also show him round the Churchill war rooms.
Asked about Trump’s comments about Brexit, May’s spox says, “she worked as hard as she possibly could to get the best deal for the UK.” Adds, “the next phase of Brexit negotiations will be conducted by somebody else, not by the PM” – it will be for them to find a way through.
Asked whether Trump didn’t want to meet the PM alone, her spox says, “I’m sure the answer to that is no”.
Could the PM try to make some progress on Brexit before she leaves, by passing uncontroversial bits of the WAB? “I am not aware of any plans to do that”.
12.10pm BST
President Trump is arriving now at Buckingham Palace by helicopter.
His daughter, Ivanka, is already there.
12.03pm BST
In an interview on the Today programme this morning Ken Clarke, the Conservative pro-European and father of the Commons (ie, its longest-serving MP), said his party’s leadership election was turning into a “tragic farce” because there were so many candidates. He said:
It is all a shambles and is in danger of becoming a rather tragic farce unless some order is brought into it. There is nothing I can do about that; the 1922 Committee perhaps should have tightened up the rules before we started.
Procedurally you might be able to tie it [stopping no-deal] to a vote of confidence or whatever, if some prime minister was ploughing on, regarding himself or herself as not accountable to parliament.
With respect to the so-called experts at the Institute for Government, and they are experts, I find it a constitutional innovation, this argument that all parliament can do is change laws, that governments no longer need the approval of parliament for policy. If you had suggested 20 years ago that a government could proceed despite the fact that parliament had passed a motion condemning the policy it was pursuing, that would be regarded as absolutely absurd. We have conventions. Parliament has got more powers than just the powers to change the law and pass statutes.
11.29am BST
Vauxhall bridge in central London is now bedecked with anti-Trump banners.
11.08am BST
Ivanka Trump has also been tweeting today about the state visit, but her tweets are blander and more diplomatic than her father’s.
Today, Her Majesty The Queen will welcome @POTUS and @FLOTUS for a State Visit to the United Kingdom.
I am looking forward to joining the US delegation for this commemorative visit.
11.06am BST
Diane Abbott, the shadow home secretary, has criticised President Trump for what he said about Sadiq Khan.
Ridiculous insults from Trump https://t.co/EXMWlz70Uw
So appalled Theresa May has given this man a red carpeted platform to do this. Doesn’t help Britain to be lavishing pomp on a President so determined to be divisive, childish & destructive. Doesn’t help US or world to be gifting him a whole load of Royal photo ops to use next yr https://t.co/iApxm4G7m9
11.02am BST
The increasingly-beleaguered Ukip are looking for yet another leader after Gerard Batten stepped down, the party has announced.
Batten made the announcement at a meeting of the Ukip national executive on Sunday. A replacement – the fifth permanent leader since Nigel Farage left the post in 2016 – will be in place by 10 August, a party statement said.
10.57am BST
10.51am BST
Turning away from President Trump’s visit for a moment, Boris Johnson, the favourite to succeed Theresa May as Conservative leader and prime minister, has released his campaign launch video. It starts with Johnson promising that, if he takes over, “we will come out [of the EU], deal or no deal, on October 31”, and a voter responding by saying that would be enough to make him vote Conservative again. It also features Johnson calling for higher school spending, defending stop and search and his record reducing crime when he was London mayor and speaking to a women who tells him she would consider voting for him although she is not a Conservative voter.
Please check out my campaign launch video. Time to deliver Brexit and unite our fantastic country. I hope you will support me > @BackBoris #BackBoris pic.twitter.com/iRZ8b0flRK
Above all, we need to address what is now a yawning funding gap between some parts of the country and others; not to split the difference, but to level up. It is simply not sustainable that funding per pupil should be £6,800 in parts of London and £4,200 in some other parts of the country …
Of course there are special and extra costs of living in the capital, and London schools, which face unique challenges, deserve that recognition and a helping hand. But I pledge significantly to improve the level of per pupil funding so that thousands of schools get much more per pupil – and to protect that funding in real terms.
10.15am BST
And this is what Jeremy Hunt said about what President Trump said to him as they spoke on the tarmac at Stansted.
I said to him that we were going to put on a great show for him, because America is our closest ally. And he mentioned to me some of his very strong views about about the mayor of London … What he said to me was consistent with what was in his tweet.
10.10am BST
President Trump is now at Winfield House, the US ambassador’s resident in central London.
10.08am BST
In an interview with Sky News Jeremy Hunt, the foreign secretary, refused to criticised President Trump for his comments about Sadiq Khan. (See 9.17am.) When it was put to him that Trump’s tweets were shocking, Hunt replied:
Well, the elected mayor of London has made some pretty choice insults about Donald Trump, and all I would say is that that spat started because the mayor of London, and other people in the Labour party, decided to boycott this visit. And I think that is just totally inappropriate.
In the end, everyone has their views about President Trump. I don’t agree with President Trump about some things. I went to battle with him on some of the things he said about the NHS when I was health secretary. But you put those things aside when the leader of the free world, the president of our closest ally, comes here on a state visit hosted by Her Majesty, and you celebrate what is special and enduring about our relationship.
9.55am BST
Sadiq Khan, the Labour mayor of London, has responded to President Trump’s Twitter broadside. (See 9.17am.) A spokesperson for Khan said:
This is much more serious than childish insults which should be beneath the President of the United States. Sadiq is representing the progressive values of London and our country warning that Donald Trump is the most egregious example of a growing far-right threat around the globe, which is putting at risk the basic values that have defined our liberal democracies for more than 70 years.
9.40am BST
Jeremy Hunt, the foreign secretary, is speaking to BBC News now. He won’t say exactly what President Trump had to say to him when they spoke at Stansted a few minutes ago, but he said that Trump’s comments were “consistent” with the comments on posted on Twitter about Sadiq Khan. (See 9.17am.)
9.33am BST
And here is a video of the Trump arrival.
9.32am BST
Here are more pictures of the Trump’s arrival at Stansted.
9.22am BST
Here are President Trump and his wife, Melania, posing for a photograph as they were about to get off Air Force One.
9.17am BST
In an article for the Observer yesterday Sadiq Khan, the Labour mayor of London, said that the language used by President Trump was similar to the language used by 20th century fascists. It was the latest in a long-running series of bitter barbs the two men have exchanged about each other in public.
As Trump’s plane was about to land, he responded on Twitter, dismissing Khan as a “stone cold loser”. He also suggested that “Kahn” (sic) was “very dumb” and “incompetent”, and mocked him for being short.
.@SadiqKhan, who by all accounts has done a terrible job as Mayor of London, has been foolishly “nasty” to the visiting President of the United States, by far the most important ally of the United Kingdom. He is a stone cold loser who should focus on crime in London, not me……
….Kahn reminds me very much of our very dumb and incompetent Mayor of NYC, de Blasio, who has also done a terrible job – only half his height. In any event, I look forward to being a great friend to the United Kingdom, and am looking very much forward to my visit. Landing now!
9.02am BST
Here is President Trump’s plane landing at Stansted.
8.58am BST
Donald Trump has only just landed in the UK yet already he’s been stirring things up considerably. A state visit of this kind is supposed to improve relations between the UK and the US. But the American president has backed Boris Johnson as the next prime minister, called for Nigel Farage to be given a role in negotiating Brexit and described Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, as “nasty”. He has also signalled that he is not going to let up in the ongoing row about whether the UK should give the Chinese firm Huawei a role in creating the UK’s 5G infrastructure. And there is a row about what might be included in the potential post-Brexit UK-US trade deal.
The Americans want healthcare to be included. Yesterday Woody Johnson, the US ambassador to London, told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show: “I think the entire economy, in a trade deal, all things that are traded would be on the table.” Asked if that specifically meant healthcare, he said: “I would think so.” But yesterday Matt Hancock, the health secretary and a contender to succeed Theresa May as Conservative leader and prime minister, immediately ruled out this proposal. And this morning, on the Today programme, Jeremy Hunt, the foreign secretary, former health secretary and another Tory leadership candidate, also said that the NHS would be off limits in a trade deal. Asked if he agreed with Hancock, he replied:
Yes. Matt is absolutely right. I can’t conceive of any future prime minister, for any party, ever agreeing that we would allow NHS procurement to be part of trade talks, because the NHS as a publicly-run, publicly-owned institution is part of our DNA.
That’s not to say that pharmaceutical products, drugs, those kind of things which are freely traded between countries could not be discussed. But the ownership of the NHS, and NHS services, I can’t imagine that ever being part of a trade deal.
Trump is bringing his extended family, including the heirs to his fortune and political power, Donald Jr, Eric and Ivanka. The most powerful of them, Ivanka, will attend a “business leaders” breakfast on Tuesday with her father in the company of Theresa May and the Duke of York.
The scenes will eventually be marketed by his business empire and his re-election machine in the same way: the House of Trump and the House of Windsor, the top luxury brands of their respective nations, sitting down to make deals in the most sumptuous settings.
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