White House denies claims that Donald Trump’s state visit to Britain has been postponed ‘until Brits support him coming’
THE White House has denied reports Donald Trump is planning to postpone his visit to Britain over fears of mass protests against him.
Reports claim the president had called Theresa May to warn her he wanted to wait "until people support him coming".
But White House spokeswoman Lindsay Walters said today Trump "has tremendous respect for Prime Minister May" and added: "That subject never came up on the call."
The president's press secretary Sean Spicer also reportedly dismissed The Guardian article in which the claims appeared as "false".
The Prime Minister's office declined to comment on "private phone conversations" but said there was "no change" to the Queen's invitation to Trump to visit the UK.
Britain has never confirmed dates for the visit, though officials have said it could be in October.
It comes after anger among Brits at the prospect of the controversial Republican having the red carpet rolled out for him later this year.
The Guardian alleges he phoned the Prime Minister in recent weeks, quoting a Downing Street adviser in the room at the time saying she was surprised at the decision.
Mrs May had invited Mr Trump and his wife Melania to Britain seven days after his inauguration at a joint press conference in the White House.
Trump's press secretary Sean Spicer has also branded "false", Washington Post political reporter Jenna Johnson Tweeted today.
The president is expected to address Parliament and meet the Queen during his state visit, among other events.
It comes after there were calls in recent days to cancel the state visit, after the President was blasted for his criticism of Sadiq Khan.
The spat began when Mr Trump tweeted hours after the deadly London Bridge terror attack, appearing to mock the response of the capital’s mayor.
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He said: “At least 7 dead and 48 wounded in terror attack and Mayor of London says there is ‘no reason to be alarmed!'”
But he was immediately pilloried for taking Mr Khan’s words out of context from the full statement he delivered in response to the killings.
After the mayor’s spokesman said he had “more important things to do” than respond to Donald Trump’s “ill-informed tweet” that only inflamed the row.
Mr Trump double down on his criticism on social media, tweeting: “Pathetic excuse by London Mayor Sadiq Khan who had to think fast on his ‘no reason to be alarmed’ statement.
It led to Mr Khan to call for the state visit to be cancelled, saying the President is so wrong about so “many things”, and calling it “inappropriate for us to be rolling out the red carpet”.
In response Mrs May said Mr Trump was “wrong” to go on the attack against Mr Khan – but insisted his state visit would still go ahead.
But in her most caustic words yet for America’s leader, the PM insisted politicians should put party politics “to one side” when dealing with terror attacks.
The PM told The Sun: “The relationship with America is our deepest and most important defence and security relationship.
“Having said that, I think Donald Trump is wrong in what he said about Sadiq Khan, in relation to the attack on London Bridge.
And Boris Johnson also criticised Mr Trump – insisting the Labour mayor “is entirely correct to reassure people”.
But now that the official invitation had been offered to the US leader, the Foreign Secretary said: “I see no reason to rescind it”.
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