US President Donald Trump’s UK state visit is being characterized by lavish ceremony, promises of mutual investment, and — just off stage — roiling protests from a British public with whom he is deeply unpopular.
Trump will attend a state banquet tonight, accompanied by top UK and US executives, many of whom are pledging to spend huge sums in each other’s countries.
The visit brings benefits and risks for Prime Minister Keir Starmer; it is delivering an influx of cash and a political distraction, but will force him to stand alongside Trump while the president is asked about his relationship with disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.
Protesters already laid a huge image of Trump and Epstein outside the president’s quarters in Windsor Castle.
