US President Donald Trump invites gleeful Nigel Farage to dine with him and Ivanka after asking him for update on Theresa May’s Brexit plans at White House meeting
DONALD Trump summoned Nigel Farage to the White House for a briefing on Theresa May’s Brexit progress, The Sun can reveal.
In a major snub to the UK’s Ambassador in the US, the ex-Ukip chief was probed for his insight into European politics.
And Mr Farage was later spotted dining at Trump International Hotel with the US President last night - who had snubbed the White House Correspondents dinner just hours beforehand.
The red wine-fuelled Saturday night meal with Mr Trump and his daughter Ivanka in Washington DC stunned bystanders, many who later posed with Mr Farage for selfies.
But far from “gate crashing” the cosy event, as one onlooker claimed, it came on top of three hours of meetings with Mr Trump’s senior staff at the West Wing.
A well-placed source said Mr Farage went to the White House and “updated them on how Brexit is going and discussed the wider political situation in Europe.”
Another source added that “the pair discussed the Brexit progress, global politics and the wider conservative movement.”
A grinning Mr Farage later tweeted a snap of "Dinner with the Donald", showing him seated with the President, his daughter, her senior White House adviser husband Jared Kushner, and Florida governor Rick Scott.
The pictures reveal just how close Mr Farage is to the new White House administration and the First Family.
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But despite the links, No 10 have repeatedly refused to heed calls to talk to the Brexit-backer about the relationship.
The dinner comes just months after Mr Farage was one of the first to meet Mr Trump after he was elected last November.
He was pictured in Trump Tower visiting the then President-elect.
The eurosceptic MEP had offered to help foster strong relations between the UK and the new President's team - to boost support for a trade deal.
He said at the time: "I know many of the team, so you'd have thought the British Government would want to use me for us to get a trade deal put together as quickly as we can."
Even Mr Trump himself tweeted: "Many people would like to see @Nigel_Farage represent Great Britain as their Ambassador to the United States. He would do a great job!"
But he was slapped down by the Prime Minister, who said there was "no vacancy" for a new diplomatic envoy.
Since then Downing Street have refused to entertain the idea of using Mr Farage’s relationship with the President to further Britain's hopes for a stronger relationship with the US after we leave the EU.
The party suffered another setback on Friday when the leader Paul Nuttall failed to win a seat in the Stoke by-election.
He got into hot water during the campaign after he was forced to admit that a claim made on his website that he lost close friends in the Hillsborough disaster was not true.
Today deputy leader Peter Whittle said it was "obviously disappointing" to lose the by-election, but that the party was "more united than ever."
"Maybe Paul shouldn't have run so early," he speculated on the BBC. "People hadn't got to know him."
And he said: "Ukip has an appeal for patriotic working class people. There are many by-elections coming up."
Yesterday Mr Farage spoke at the CPAC conference, where he told Americans about how he helped to create Brexit.
He said: "In 2016, we witnessed the beginning of a global political revolution and its one that is not going to stop. It’s going to roll out all over the world."
“Since November 2016, since the election of Donald J Trump, every time I come to America I feel a little bit more American”, he said to cheers from right wing activists in Maryland.
The news comes as major Ukip donor Arron Banks threatens to pull funding from the party unless he is made chairman.
Following leader Mr Nuttall's defeat in the Stoke, Mr Bank blamed the party's sole MP Douglas Carswell for not doing more to help. He said that if he were brought in, he would expel him from the party.
He said: "Either I become chairman and sort out Ukip by bringing in business people and professionals to make the party electable, or I am out of there.
"The party cannot continue to be run like a jumble sale.
"If Nuttall doesn't professionalise it and toss out the likes of Douglas Carswell, Suzanne Evans and the rest of the Tory cabal then the party is finished anyway.
"These dullards aren’t bringing in Tory votes, Stoke proved that. So what are they for? The party now needs to bring in serious people to fix its ramshackle administration, stay relevant and stay radical or it will die.”
And he alleged: “From what I hear, far from winning elections, Carswell’s main concern is sabotaging Nigel’s knighthood, which is why he must leave the party."
But Mr Whittle backed the current chairman and rebuffed his calls to be put into the position.
"It would be a very interesting conversation to have," he told the Andrew Marr Show. "If Aaron were to take his money away, there would be other people..."
