Donald Trump’s state visit to UK cancelled, Queen's Speech reveals

Monarch makes no mention of planned visit in address to Parliament

Donald Trump’s state visit to the UK appears to have been axed after officials failed to mention it in the Queen’s Speech on Wednesday.

Theresa May invited the US President after they were pictured holding hands together on the White House lawn earlier this year, but the visit was threatening to spark large-scale demonstrations.

Both Downing Street and the White House have brushed aside claims the trip is in doubt, but the invitation to Mr Trump has faced a wall of criticism amid the President’s outlandish behaviour.

The monarch’s address to Parliament usually mentions all planned state visits, but that delivered by Queen Elizabeth on Wednesday only contained a reference to welcoming King Felipe and Queen Letizia of Spain in July.

When Ms May visited Washington in January she sought to closely associate herself with Mr Trump, who supports Brexit and had signalled he was willing to seal an early trade deal with the UK after it leaves the EU.

But the Prime Minister’s judgement was questioned after she extended an early invitation to the President just a week after his inauguration, with previous leaders having come only in their second term.

With petitions and a debate in the Commons against his arrival, the trip appeared to become increasingly contentious and was threatening to spark major demonstrations.

There was further criticism after Mr Trump attacked London Mayor Sadiq Khan over his response to the terror attack at London Bridge.

Mr Khan's office said he had simply been saying people should not be alarmed by the additional police presence on the streets, but Mr Trump accused him of making “pathetic excuses”, prompting the Mayor to call for the visit to be dropped.

The White House has denied reports that Mr Trump told the Prime Minister he does not want to go ahead with the trip if it is going to lead to large-scale protests.

His comments were reportedly made in a telephone call in recent weeks, but a White House spokeswoman said the state visit “never came up on the call”.

Downing Street refused to comment, saying only that the invitation, which was given by Ms May on behalf of the Queen, remained unchanged.