What could go wrong... Trump’s in Britain on Friday 13th!
DONALD Trump will make his long-awaited trip to the UK, it was announced yesterday.
But he has been advised to stay away from London on Friday, July 13, and treat it as a working visit rather than a full-blown state occasion.
Arriving straight from a Nato summit in Brussels, it is not expected to be the prestigious event Theresa May initially offered him, which would have entailed lavish ceremonies and staying with the Queen at Buckingham Palace.
But opponents have no intention of scaling back their planned protests.
Some Right-wing think tanks in the UK have urged him to stay away from the capital and focus instead on his mother’s more welcoming homeland of Scotland. He will hold one-toone talks with Mrs May.
Downing Street and the White House had hoped to coordinate their announcement but Mr Trump’s spokeswoman Sarah Sanders let the date slip.
Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson tweeted that the visit was “fantastic news”.
Echoing Mr Trump’s vow to “make America great again”, he wrote: “Looking forward to seeing our closest ally and friend on the GREATest visit ever.”
But Lib Dem deputy leader Jo Swinson said: “Protesting against a man with dangerous, misogynistic and racist views is our responsibility.
“It is our opportunity to stand in solidarity with all the people he has abused and denigrated.”
Kate Allen, UK director of Amnesty International, added: “We and thousands of our supporters will very definitely be making our voices heard. In the 15 months of his presidency, we’ve seen a deeply disturbing human rights rollback.”
London Mayor Sadiq Khan, whose response to terror attacks has been directly criticised by Mr Trump, tweeted: “If he comes to London, President Trump will experience an open and diverse city that has always chosen unity over division and hope over fear.
“He will also no doubt see that Londoners hold their liberal values of freedom of speech very dear.”
The news came after Britain had to endure seeing French president Emmanuel Macron use a glittering state visit to the US to seek to make his country Mr Trump’s preferred European port of call.
Mr Trump was forecast to visit London in February to open the new American embassy, but he was said to have been put off by the prospect of protests.
Concerns about demonstrations were also thought to be a factor in postponing the full state visit mooted for 2017. Mrs May extended the invitation when she visited him in Washington at the start of the year, days after his inauguration.
Number 10 insisted the state visit invitation still stands.