President Donald Trump will once again be denied an opportunity to address the U.K. Houses of Parliament when he returns to Britain in September.
The Daily Telegraph states that Downing Street has pencilled in the State visit for the two-week window that opens on Sept 16., the moment MPs and peers head off for conference season.
The paper says that, with Westminster dark, officials can claim there is simply no forum available—neatly avoiding the diplomatic headache of formally denying Trump the honor.
The maneuver means he will be denied the same Westminster podium enjoyed by a parade of political rivals, which is bound to rile the famously thin-skinned president.
World leaders who have addressed parliament include Bill Clinton, who preached “an age of possibility [and] peace” in 1995; Barack Obama, who drew a standing ovation in 2011; and Emmanuel Macron who, only this week, used the Royal Gallery to warn that Britain and France risk “growing apart” while promising to loan the Bayeux Tapestry.
They are part of a roll-call that stretches from Charles de Gaulle to Mikhail Gorbachev, Nelson Mandela, Xi Jinping, and Volodymyr Zelensky.
However, a White House official told the Daily Beast that Trump addressing Parliament was “never expected or even discussed.”
It is not the first time Trump has been prevented from addressing the British Parliament, however.
During his first U.K. state visit in June 2019, ministers quietly dropped the idea of a Westminster speech after Commons Speaker John Bercow signaled he would block any request.
Bercow had told MPs two years earlier that addressing both Houses was “an earned honor” and said Trump’s proposed Muslim-ban ran counter to “equality before the law and an independent judiciary.”
Whitehall insiders told The Telegraph that politics again lies behind the timing of Trump’s second State visit, and the decision to deny him the chance to address parliament.
Labour MPs had threatened to empty the green benches in protest, while planners feared images of a half-vacant chamber and another outing for the inflatable “Trump Baby” blimp.
Different issues will strip other trappings, too. While Trump will meet King Charles, Buckingham Palace remains off-limits. Trump is instead expected to overnight at Winfield House, the home to the U.S. ambassador’s in Regent’s Park.
This week, King Charles rolled into Windsor beside President Macron in an open-top carriage—a flourish Palace aides would happily repeat for Trump, but one the Secret Service is almost certain to veto, says The Telegraph.
The same goes for the glittering Windsor banquet, the paper notes. While Macron’s guest list boasted Sir Mick Jagger, Kristin Scott Thomas, Sir Elton John and novelist Joanne Harris, Trump—whose brand still divides opinion—may find it harder to lure comparable star power.
One thing Trump will be able to trumpet, though, is that he will become the first elected leader in modern times to have enjoyed two U.K. State visits.
Trump is also due in Britain for a whistle-stop visit later this month, likely squeezing in a quick trip to his Turnberry golf resort on Scotland’s Ayrshire coast.
No. 10 is still juggling diaries to see whether Sir Keir Starmer can fit in a meeting during what officials insist will be a deliberately low-key stopover, says The Telegraph.
The Daily Beast contacted Downing Street for comment.
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