Donald Trump could be offered a second state visit to the UK, it has emerged, because of the change of both the government and the monarch since he was last invited.
However, government sources have denied claims from Nigel Farage that an invitation has already been extended by the House of Commons speaker, Lindsay Hoyle, for the US president-elect to address both Houses of Parliament.
His predecessor, John Bercow, had said he would block any invitation to Trump to address parliament during his state visit in 2019.
Trump was hosted at Buckingham Palace for a state visit by Queen Elizabeth in 2019, while Theresa May was prime minister.
No other world leader has been hosted twice for an official state visit though the French president Jacques Chirac was hosted by the Queen both in 1996 and 2004, the latter called a “special visit” commemorating the centenary of the Entente Cordiale.
But government sources said a second state visit for Trump should not be ruled out because of three differences since 2019 – the gap between his presidencies, the change of government from Conservatives to Labour, and the new monarch, Charles III.
It is not routine for US presidents to be asked to address parliament during state visits, however. The last US president to do so was Barack Obama. Joe Biden, as US president, did not even receive a full state visit hosted by the monarch – though his presidency included the last year of the pandemic and the death of the Queen and Charles III’s subsequent coronation.
Farage told his Reform UK party’s Welsh rally on Friday: “I do think having Sir Lindsay Hoyle there as the speaker compared to that ghastly little pipsqueak Bercow that went before is an improvement. And indeed, he’s already invited Donald Trump to come and speak to both Houses of Parliament next year.”
However, Farage has not repeated the claim since. State visits for any head of state are usually issued by the UK government, with itineraries set by No 10, Buckingham Palace and the visiting dignitaries.
Though the speaker has the ceremonial role of issuing the invitation to speak in parliament, in practice it would be requested and agreed between the two states. It is understood the speaker has received no request so far.
Farage has repeatedly renewed his offer to act as an intermediary between the UK government and the incoming Trump administration, a prospect Labour ministers have rejected. “If I can in any way help to mend fences between this Labour administration and the incoming Trump administration then I would do so,” he said.
But on Sunday morning the chief secretary to the Treasury, Darren Jones, said that would not be happening, saying his constituents in Clacton “deserve a bit of a full-time MP as opposed to a transatlantic commentator”.