US President Donald Trump will not be given the chance to give a speech in Parliament when he travels to the UK for his second official state visit.
Buckingham Palace has confirmed Trump will be hosted by King Charles at Windsor Castle when he, and First Lady Melania Trump, travel to the UK on 17 September.
A state visit does not automatically include an address to both Houses of Parliament but French leader President Emmanuel Macron was invited to give a speech to MPs when he was in the UK last week.
Trump’s visit will, however, coincide with the House of Commons being in recess for political party conference season.
The timing avoids an awkward decision for the government, which has received pressure from some MPs who do not want the US President invited into Parliament.
More than a dozen Labour MPs had backed an Early Day Motion in the Commons in April, which raised Trumps’s “misogynism, racism and xenophobia” as well as “his comments about the UK, parliamentary democracy” as proof it would be inappropriate for him to address Parliament.
Arranging the visit for 17 September, the day after the House rises for recess, prevents No 10 from having to choose between the possibility of an uncomfortable scene with MPs or a public snub of the US leader.
The two-day trip will see all the pomp and ceremony of the President’s previous state visit in 2019.
And the fact that he has been offered the honour for a second time is an unprecedented gesture.
Second-term US presidents who have already made a state visit would usually be offered a scaled down invitation, such as a lunch with the monarch at Windsor Castle.
But Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has been eager to utilise Trump’s regard for the British royal family as a means of smoothing diplomatic relations with the unpredictable leader.
In February when he visited Washington, Starmer presented Trump with a letter from the King.
As the pair sat next to each other in the Oval Office, in front of international news cameras, the PM handed the president the personal invitation, later saying “this is truly historic and unprecedented”.
It was an unusual move at a time when Trump’s opposition to supporting Ukraine in the conflict with Russia posed a huge diplomatic challenge for Starmer.
Since then Trump’s tariff regime, pressure over defence spending in Europe and unpredictable actions relating to the Middle East have put Starmer’s diplomatic skills to the test.
After reading his invitation, a clearly-flattered Trump said it was a “great, great honour” to be invited by the King for a second time.
King Charles had initially suggested he and the president might meet at Balmoral or Dumfries House in Scotland first before the much grander state visit.
But logistical challenges surrounding an informal visit meant a private meeting was not possible over the course of the summer months, it is understood.
