NATO summit: Donald Trump lands in UK ahead of meeting with Queen at Buckingham Palace

Donald Trump at a press conference - AFP
Donald Trump at a press conference – AFP

The Queen is preparing to host US President Donald Trump at a Buckingham Palace reception for Nato leaders.

Mr Trump landed at Stansted Airport in Air Force One with his wife Melania at 10pm on Monday for his third visit as US President.

He will gather with Western politicians and their partners in the royal residence’s grand State Rooms.

The Queen, the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall will formally greet the Nato leaders at the reception, which marks 70 years of the alliance.

Charles and the monarch will then join the politicians for a group photograph.

The royals will be out in force for the event, including the Duchess of Cambridge, the Earl of Wessex, the Princess Royal, the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester and Princess Alexandra.

The Duke of Cambridge is away in the Middle East and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are on a six-week break from royal engagements.

The Duke of York, who stepped down from public duties after his disastrous Newsnight interview about his association with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, is not attending.

Mr Trump has repeatedly criticised Nato, describing it as “obsolete and disproportionately too expensive (and unfair) for the US”.

Nato – the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation – was established in Washington on April 4 1949.

It began as a 12-member alliance to counterbalance the growing military might of the Soviet Union and to keep the peace in post-war Europe.

The political and military alliance now has 29 member countries.

10:10AM

Trump ‘trying to work something out’ on Harry Dunn situation

Harry Dunn was killed in a motorbike crash in Northamptonshire on August 27.

Anne Sacoolas is believed to have been driving on the wrong side of the road when she hit 19-year-old Mr Dunn’s motorbike outside RAF Croughton.

The suspect, 42-year-old Mrs Sacoolas, who is married to a US intelligence official, was able to leave the country on a private flight under the benefit of diplomatic immunity following the crash.

Asked if he’s going to extradite the suspect, Mr Trump said: “You’re talking about the woman who had the accident that killed the young man on the motorcycle.

“I had his parents up and they’re lovely people.

“And I’ve talked to the woman who has diplomatic immunity.

“We’re trying to work things out.”

10:04AM

Trump ‘has confidence’ in North Korea denuclearisation

The President has faith in Kim Jong-un’s vow to denuclearise the peninsula. 

Having become the first US President to meet with the North Korean leader, he said: “I have confidence in him, he likes me. I like him.  

“We have a good relationship, so we’ll see.”

“He likes sending rockets up doesn’t he, that’s why I call him Rocketman. 

“We’d be in a war right now if it wasn’t for me. 

“We’d be in a war right now in Asia.

“But we have peace. I have a very good personal relationship with him, possibly the only relationship he has in the world like that. 

“They call it the hermit kingdom. 

“I know a lot about his hermit kingdom. 

“We’d be in World War Three right now if we’d have listened to Obama.” 

9:58AM

US ‘wouldn’t do anything with NHS even if it was handed on silver platter’

So – there you have it.

 The US President says the NHS is not and will not form any part of a UK-US trade deal.

Asked if the NHS should be on the table in trade talks, Mr Trump said: “No, not at all, I have nothing to do with it. Never even thought about it, honestly.”

Mr Trump added: “I don’t even know where that rumour started. We have absolutely nothing to do with it and we wouldn’t want to if you handed it to us on a silver platter, we want nothing to do with it.”

9:54AM

Trump lashes out at ‘delinquent’ countries

Donald Trump branded nations who did not meet the spending target on defence as “delinquents”. 

He is talking in a press conference in London.

9:49AM

Trump will ‘work with anybody’ if Labour wins election

Mr Trump said he could “work with anybody” when asked whether he could work with Jeremy Corbyn as prime minister.

He replied: “I can work with anybody, I’m a very easy person to work with, you wouldn’t believe it.”

9:43AM

Tax on French wine to increase, Trump says

Donald Trump has hit back at French President Emmanuel Macron over his claim that Nato was “brain dead”.

The US president, in London for a meeting of alliance leaders, said Mr Macron’s comments were “very insulting”.

Speaking at the US ambassador’s residence, Mr Trump said he was “very surprised” at his remarks.

“Turkey responded by saying that he was brain dead which was interesting,” he told reporters.

He added: “I heard that President Macron said that Nato was brain dead. I think that is very insulting to a lot of different forces. It has a great purpose.”

Mr Trump said that taxes would start to rise on French products, including wine.

“Nobody needs Nato more than France,” he said. 

“And frankly the one that benefits the least is the United States. When France makes a statement like they did against Nato, it’s a very dangerous statement to make.”

9:42AM

Donald Trump ‘will meet Boris Johnson’

US President Donald Trump has said he will be meeting with Boris Johnson during the course of his visit to the UK for a two-day meeting of Nato leaders.

Speaking during a breakfast meeting with Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at the US ambassador’s residence in London, Mr Trump said he had “no thoughts” on the UK General Election.

Asked if he would be meeting Mr Johnson, the president said: “I will be meeting with him, yes.”

He added: “I have many meetings. I have meetings set up with lots of different countries.”

Asked why he is staying out of the General Election, Mr Trump said: “Because I don’t want to complicate it.”

He added: “I’ll stay out of the election. You know that I was a fan of Brexit. I called it the day before,” he said.

Mr Trump added: “I think Boris is very capable and I think he’ll do a good job.”

9:15AM

Protesters set to march from Trafalgar Square to Palace 

Protesters are planning to march from London’s Trafalgar Square down The Mall to the palace to demonstrate as the event takes place on Tuesday.

Among the protesters will be NHS nurses, doctors and workers campaigning over potential risks to the NHS from a future US-UK trade deal.

Nick Dearden, from Global Justice Now, said: “Tuesday’s demonstration will be led by nurses and doctors – to symbolise the millions of people who will stand up for our health service against a US president who simply represents the biggest, greediest corporate interests in the world.”

Stand Up To Trump, Stop the War Coalition and the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) will be among the groups taking part.

Lindsey German, from Stop the War Coalition, said: “We need an alternative to war, militarism and racism – an anti-war government and a mass demonstration against Trump and Nato.”

CND general secretary Kate Hudson described Nato as “a hugely dangerous and destructive nuclear-armed alliance with the capacity to destroy all forms of life many times over”.

She added: “This is no time to celebrate and welcome it to London.”

9:09AM

Nato Summit timeline – what’s happening when?

TUESDAY

  • 9.30am

    Meeting with the President of the Unites States

  • 11.30am

    NATO Secretary General addresses the NATO Engages: Innovating the Alliance conference

  • 4pm

    Deputy Secretary General addresses the NATO Engages conference

  • 6pm

    Reception hosted by Her Majesty the Queen at Buckingham Palace

WEDNESDAY

  • 7.30am

    Statement by the NATO Secretary General

  • 7.45am

    World leaders arrive

  • 9.05am

    Official handshake ceremony with the NATO Secretary General and the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Boris Johnson

  • 9.35am

    Family photo of NATO Heads of State and Government

source: yahoo.com