ReutersUS President Donald Trump has been invited for a second state visit by the King.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer used his trip to the White House to present Trump with an invitation letter from King Charles.
Sir Keir said the president’s last state visit in 2019 had been a “tremendous success” and that the invite for a second visit was “truly historic” and “unprecedented”.
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office after reading the letter, Trump said he accepted the invite and that it would be an “honour” to visit the “fantastic” country.
He added that King Charles was a “beautiful man, a wonderful man”.
Sir Keir gave Trump the letter as the two leaders took questions from reporters ahead of talks expected to cover topics including the war in Ukraine.
Speaking on the plane to the US, Sir Keir told reporters that a peace deal would not stop Vladimir Putin from invading Ukraine again, unless the US were able to provide security guarantees.
Asked if the US could provide such support, Trump said a proposed deal with Ukraine over access to critical minerals would provide “a backstop”.
“We are a backstop because we will be over there, we will be working in the country,” he said.
Pressed over whether he would approve the UK’s potential deal with Mauritius over the Chagos Islands, Trump said: “We’re going to have some discussions about that very soon, and I have a feeling it’s going to work out very well.
“I think we’ll be inclined to go along with your country,”
In an interview before travelling to the US, Foreign Secretary David Lammy said the controversial deal would not go ahead unless the US supported it.
