The Telegraph
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| Mrs May was the first foreign leader to visit the US president - AFP |
It is rumoured that his wife Melania will join him on the visit and that the couple may be honoured by the Coldstream Guards when they meet the Queen at Windsor Castle.
Read on to find out when the trip is happening, who he'll be meeting, reactions to the announcement and a summary of Mr Trump's relationship with Theresa May.
When is Donald Trump visiting the UK?
The US leader’s long-delayed trip could last as long as from the evening of Thursday July 12 to Sunday July 15 and will include talks with Theresa May and an overnight stay. While it was originally due to last just 24 hours, it is now predicted to have been extended.
A White House delegation led by Joe Hagin, deputy chief of staff, flew in to the UK at the end of June to scope out venues and finalise plans.
Mr Hagin was one of the organisational masterminds behind Mr Trump’s summit with Kim Jong-un, the North Korean leader, in Singapore. He recently announced he will soon leave the White House.
The White House press secretary originally let slip the date of Mr Trump's trip in April in a press conference for journalists’ children to mark America’s ‘Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day’.
Friday July 13 was initially chosen as the date of the trip because Mr Trump, who is known not to enjoy long-distance travel, is in Brussels for a Nato meeting on July 11 and 12.
A Downing Street spokesman said at the time: “He will hold bilateral talks with the Prime Minister during his visit. Further details will be set out in due course.”
Mr Trump is understood to have personally approved the visit after weeks of careful negotiations between his staff, Number 10 and the UK embassy in Washington.
The visit offers a chance for Mrs May to improve her personal relationship with the US president, which figures close to both leaders privately acknowledge is not especially warm.
Yet it also triggered renewed fears of mass protests – one of the reasons Mr Trump has delayed coming to Britain for so long according to US and UK sources.
While the exact details of the trip remain under discussion, Mr Trump is expected to hold talks with Mrs May at Chequers, her countryside residence. UK aides believe that pomp and ceremony will help foster a warmer relationship with the US president.
Will Donald Trump meet with Queen?
The US President is likely to meet the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh before heading to Scotland, having repeatedly said how much his Scottish mother admired Her Majesty.
UK officials are seeing Mr Trump’s visit in two sections. The first will see the US president in England. Two items – Mr Trump meeting the Queen at Windsor Castle and Theresa May at Chequers – have been agreed for this stretch.
The Queen has met every sitting US President since 1945.
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US Ambassador Woody Johnson has said Mr Trump will meet the Queen during his visit, telling Sky News the President's team were currently working on "various scenarios" for the visit.
Asked by interviewer Kay Burley if that involved a meeting with the Queen, he said: "Yes. Yes, I mean he has to see the head of state.
"Putting his foot on the ground of British soil is job one – very, very important, very symbolic. Meeting Her Majesty is the most important thing, because she is head of state."
It is expected that the President will meet the Queen at Windsor Castle, which is reportedly closed to the public on the day of his arrival.
A banquet at Blenheim Palace is also on the cards, as well as a greeting from the Coldstream Guards, the Army’s oldest and most prestigious regiment.
The second half of Mr Trump’s trip will see him in Scotland, where UK officials believe the president could visit both his golf courses there - Trump Turnberry and Trump International Golf Links Scotland.
It is understood that Mr Trump is expected to play a hole of golf with Prince Andrew at his family's Turnberry course.
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This part of the visit is being seen as less formal, given Mr Trump often uses the time at his Mar-a-Lago golf resort in Florida to relax at weekends.
Both Mr Trump and the Duke of York are known for their love of golf. The US president has reportedly spent more than 100 days of his presidency at golf clubs, and has used the sport to bond with other world leaders.
UK officials have played down the likelihood of either Prince Harry or Prince William meeting Mr Trump with their wives, though a decision is down to Buckingham Palace.
Will Melania visit the UK?
Melania Trump is expected to accompany the President on the trip, with a standalone event without her husband on the cards.
The US First Lady could visit a British school and talk to children about the dangers of cyber bullying, according to a source familiar with the talks.
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British figures have proposed the First Lady visits a school as part of her ‘Be Best’ campaign, designed to teach children about “the importance of social, emotional, and physical health”.
This would be the First Lady's first trip abroad since her hospitalisation for a kidney procedure in May. Melania was unable to accompany her husband to the G7 summit in Canada or to the Singapore summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, both of which took place last month.
If Mrs Trump does go ahead with a standalone event, it will be more evidence of her growing emergence as an independent political force within the White House.
Will Donald Trump visit London?
Mr Trump is expected largely to avoid the capital, however, in a move that would minimise his exposure to the protests that are expected.
He will not be invited to address both Houses of Parliament – an honour that has been accorded to previous US presidents – because of opposition from John Bercow, the Commons speaker.
Last November Mr Bercow said that addressing the Commons was "an earned honour and in my view he (Trump) has not earned that honour".
A spokesman for the Speaker’s Office told The Daily Telegraph: “Mr Speaker’s views on this subject are a matter of public record. In any case, no request to address both Houses of Parliament has been received.”
The trip will not be the full state visit offered to Mr Trump just days after his inauguration, for which a date has yet to be set. Instead, it will be a 'working visit'.
A Downing Street source has made it clear that the US President "must not meet Farage" in the talks over the itinerary.
Nigel Farage, the former UK Independence Party leader, added that he had been told the UK Government had made it clear that it did not want Mr Trump to meet with him during his visit "through the normal protocol channels".
He said: "I understand that through the normal protocol channels established between [the countries] ahead of a visit that they are very keen - almost paranoid I was told - that he [Trump] doesn't meet me.”
The US President will not have time to meet Jeremy Corbyn during his visit. The Labour leader previously said he wanted to talk to Mr Trump about his "problems with Mexicans and Muslims" when he visits the UK.
Ed Miliband, Mr Corbyn's predecessor as Labour leader, met President Obama when he made a state visit to the UK in 2011.
Other elements, such as whether Mr Trump will meet military figures, are understood to remain up in the air. The US President will travel to Finland on Monday July 16 to meet the Russian President Vladimir Putin.
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Security surrounding Trump's visit
Police are expected to supply up to 10,000 officers to protect the US President on his visit, with counter-terrorism divisions on alert during the tour.
Hundreds of riot vans will reportedly be on hand to prevent the planned march in London from becoming violent and the President will be accompanied by police cars and motorbikes while travelling by road.
Scotland Yard have said: "We are preparing for a multi-faceted policing and security operation, involving the protection and movement of the president.
"The requirements of this complex operation need to be balanced with the right of individuals to a freedom of speech."
Downing Street has confirmed that the Treasury will cover the policing costs if the President visits Scotland.
The pledge came after the Scottish government’s new justice secretary Humza Yousaf said it was "completely unacceptable" to expect Scottish taxpayers to pay for a visit planned by the UK government. The interim chief constable of Police Scotland Iain Livingtone has predicted the visit could require up to 5,000 police offers, costing £5 million.
Treasury secretary Liz Truss tweeted a statement verifying the Treasury bear the cost, adding: "As you are aware, policing is a devolved matter in Scotland.
"However, on an exceptional basis, I can confirm that the TReasury would provide a ring-fenced funding of up to £5m to cover the costs incurred by Police Scotland should a visit from the President be confirmed."
Reactions to the announcement
Boris Johnson, the Foreign Secretary, said the news was “fantastic” but senior Labour figures warned that critics will not hold their tongues during the trip.
Sadiq Khan, Labour’s London Mayor, said on following the announcement: “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 pair have previously clashed publicly, with Mr Trump tweeting criticism of Mr Khan’s comments after the London Bridge terror attack.
Mr Trump unexpectedly pulled out of a 'working visit' in February to open the new US embassy in London, saying he was not a “big fan” of the deal Barack Obama struck for the building.
However US and UK sources have suggested concerns over protests in London and continued hostility to a visit from the Labour leadership was a bigger reason for the cancellation.
Mr Johnson tweeted: “FANTASTIC news that President Donald Trump will at last come to Britain on 13 July. Looking forward to seeing our closest ally and friend on the GREATest visit ever.”
FANTASTIC news that President @realdonaldtrump will at last come to Britain on 13 July. Looking forward to seeing our closest ally and friend on the GREATest visit ever.
Trump's relationship with May
Emmanuel Macron’s three-day state visitto America in April, where the French and US leaders heralded a new “special relationship”, has cast the May-Trump relationship in a harsh light.
There are concerns in Government that Mrs May's clashes with Mr Trump have helped Emmanuel Macron, the French President, develop a closer relationship with the US President.
A Cabinet source said: "There is genuine concern that Theresa May has mishandled the special relationship and allowed Emmanuel Macron to get ahead of us. We are trying to play catch up."
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Nigel Farage, the Ukip leader, told The Daily Telegraph: "One of the reasons that we are way behind the French is because we have got senior Labour figures who want to have mass street protests in London.
"We shot ourselves in the foot with Sadiq Khan and sent a message that the President is not welcome here."
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