{"id":644351,"date":"2019-06-03T14:58:07","date_gmt":"2019-06-03T14:58:07","guid":{"rendered":"
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US President Donald Trump met Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace on Monday after kicking off his UK state visit by branding the London mayor a \u201closer\u201d and weighing in on the Brexit debate.<\/p>\n

With a 41-gun royal salute ringing out across the royal palace\u2019s lawn, Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Charles shook hands with the US leader and First Lady Melania Trump before British soldiers played the national anthems of the two countries.<\/p>\n

The queen then led the couple inside for a private lunch, which will be followed in the evening by a glittering banquet.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s plane had not even touched down when he tweeted that London Mayor Sadiq Khan, who has been highly critical of the red-carpet welcome laid on for Trump, was doing a \u201cterrible job\u201d.<\/p>\n

The president called the mayor a \u201cstone cold loser\u201d, adding: \u201cKahn reminds me very much of our very dumb and incompetent Mayor of NYC, (Bill) de Blasio, who has also done a terrible job \u2013 only half his height.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn any event, I look forward to being a great friend to the United Kingdom,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\u2013 Backing for Boris \u2013<\/strong><\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s three-day visit comes with Britain in political turmoil. Prime Minister Theresa May is due to step down within weeks over her handling of her country\u2019s exit from the European Union.<\/p>\n

Trump weighed in on the divisive issue, declaring before he arrived that Britain\u2019s former foreign minister Boris Johnson would make an \u201cexcellent\u201d choice to succeed May.<\/p>\n

In a round of British newspaper interviews, he also recommended her successor walk away from talks with Brussels, refuse to pay Britain\u2019s agreed divorce bill and leave the EU with no deal.<\/p>\n

The UK-US \u201cspecial relationship\u201d was already under strain over different approaches to Iran, the use of Chinese technology in 5G networks, climate change, and Trump\u2019s personal politics.<\/p>\n

Labour\u2019s Khan has led the opposition to the three-day visit, writing a newspaper article on Sunday in which he compared the US leader to European dictators from the 1930s and 1940s.<\/p>\n

\u201cDonald Trump is just one of the most egregious examples of a growing global threat,\u201d Khan wrote.<\/p>\n

His spokesman called Trump\u2019s tweets \u201cchildish\u201d and \u201cbeneath the president of the United States\u201d.<\/p>\n

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