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British Prime Minister Theresa May and US President Donald Trump during a meeting in New York in September, on the sidelines of the 72nd United Nations General Assembly. Trump will make his first presidential visit to Britain on July 13, Downing Street announced Thursday. Photo: AFP 

Donald Trump to make his first trip to Britain as president in July

The president’s visit had been repeatedly delayed amid a series of diplomatic spats and fears that it could be overshadowed by huge protests

Donald Trump

US President Donald Trump will make a long-awaited visit to Britain on July 13, Downing Street announced on Thursday, his first since taking power in January last year.

The visit had been repeatedly delayed amid a series of diplomatic spats and fears that it could be overshadowed by mass protests.

“The president of the United States will visit the UK on 13 July,” Prime Minister Theresa May’s spokesman said in a statement, adding Trump would hold bilateral talks with the British leader.

President Donald Trump at the White House in Washington on Thursday. He will make his first visit to the the UK as president in July. Photo: AP

May controversially offered Trump a state visit – which would involve meeting Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace – when she was the first foreign leader to visit him after entering the White House.

The invitation provoked uproar in Britain, where Trump’s “America First” agenda, including a proposed ban on immigration from a number of Muslim-majority countries, is unpopular.

British lawmakers called on May to withdraw the offer, while protesters promised to turn out in record numbers.

The July trip is set to be a working visit, with Trump expected at a Nato summit in Brussels, Belgium, on July 11 and 12.

The offer of a ceremonial state visit remains on the table, according to a Whitehall source.

May has faced repeated calls to withdraw the state visit offer after diplomatic dust-ups with Trump, who has already visited several other European capitals.

Relations turned particularly testy in November after Trump shared three inflammatory anti-Muslim videos posted by the far-right group Britain First.

The retweeting caused consternation in Britain and further calls to scrap any visit.

Britain's Prime Minister Theresa May speaking during the weekly Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons in London on Wednesday. Photo: PRU via AFP 

When May condemned Trump for sharing the messages, he tweeted at her: “Don’t focus on me, focus on the destructive Radical Islamic Terrorism that is taking place within the United Kingdom.”

Trump later made a rare apology, saying he did not know the group’s background before sharing.

He was expected in London for the opening of the new American embassy on the banks of the Thames River in a former industrial area that is being regenerated.

But Trump again caused offence when he disparaged the neighbourhood and announced that he would not be coming to London.

He cited the reason for the no-show as the decision to sell America’s old embassy in Mayfair for “peanuts” and the new US$1.2 billion site as in “an off location”. 

“Bad deal. Wanted me to cut ribbon-NO!” he tweeted.

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