Donald Trump labels Sadiq Khan 'a stone cold loser' before landing in UK
The US president took aim at the mayor of London hours before meeting with the Queen and Prince Charles at Buckingham Palace.
Monday 3 June 2019 18:42, UK
Donald Trump called the mayor of London a "stone cold loser" minutes before touching down in the UK for his three-day state visit.
The US president also suggested Sadiq Khan is "very dumb" before Air Force One landed at Stansted Airport this morning.
Mr Trump and First Lady Melania were greeted by the Queen, Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall at Buckingham Palace hours later.
They stood for a rendition of the US national anthem, before the president spoke to soldiers as he inspected members of the Grenadier Guards.
He then enjoyed a private lunch with the Queen ahead of a full state banquet this evening.
Mr Trump took aim at some familiar targets before his meeting with the Royal Family at Buckingham Palace.
After suggesting Mr Khan was "very dumb" while his presidential plane was still in the sky, he appeared to use some downtime in London to watch TV and berate both CNN and China.
Mr Trump wrote of the mayor of London on Twitter: "Sadiq Khan, who by all accounts has done a terrible job as mayor of London, has been foolishly 'nasty' to the visiting President of the United States, by far the most important ally of the United Kingdom."
In a tweet in which he spelt the London mayor's name wrong, Mr Trump added: "Kahn reminds me very much of our very dumb and incompetent Mayor of NYC, de Blasio, who has also done a terrible job - only half his height."
Mr Khan's spokesman branded the president's tweets as "childish" and branded him "the most egregious example of a growing far-right threat around the globe".
The president's comments come after Mr Khan told Sky News the UK is wrong to "roll out the red carpet" to Mr Trump.
The US leader and Mr Khan have repeatedly clashed in recent years, including Mr Trump criticising the mayor's response to the 2017 London Bridge terror attack.
Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, who greeted the president on the runway of Stansted Airport, has criticised the Labour party for boycotting the state visit.
He also appeared to come out on Mr Trump's side over his tweets about Mr Khan, saying the London mayor had previously made some "choice insults" about the US leader.
Sky News presenter Mark Austin has revealed that the president complained to Mr Hunt about Mr Khan as soon as he got off the plane.
Mr Austin explains: "It is obvious that Donald Trump is bizarrely preoccupied with his personal spat with the mayor of London as he arrives for the state visit.
"First he tweets about it, then, amazingly, he mentions it in comments to Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt in his private chat at the foot of the aircraft steps."
After arriving at Stansted Airport Mr Trump flew by helicopter to Winfield House, the home of the US ambassador to the UK Woody Johnson.
Once there Mr Trump first took aim at China and then CNN, tweeting: "Just arrived in the United Kingdom.
"The only problem is that @CNN is the primary source of news available from the US.
"After watching it for a short while, I turned it off. All negative & so much Fake News, very bad for U.S. Big ratings drop.
"Why doesn't owner @ATT do something?"
Mr Trump had already created a considerable degree of political turbulence ahead of the visit, with comments in recent days on the Tory leadership race, Brexit and the Duchess of Sussex.
The president has denied a report he called Meghan "nasty" ahead of meeting the Royal Family.
He dismissed the reports as "fake news", despite them coming from a recorded interview.
Following some downtime at Winfield House, Mr Trump boarded the Marine One helicopter to fly to the grounds of Buckingham Palace.
Prince Charles and Camilla were the first to meet the president and First Lady before he was introduced to the Queen outside the palace itself.
After lunch the president is expected to head to Westminster Abbey to lay a wreath on the grave of The Unknown Warrior.
Mr Trump and his wife Melania will also have afternoon tea with Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall at Clarence House.
The president will be whisked around the capital in his armoured car, known as "The Beast", during his visit and is thought to have brought an entourage of hundreds to the UK, including numerous Secret Service agents.
This evening will see the highlight of the first day - and perhaps the whole trip - when a full state banquet takes place at Buckingham Palace.
Both the Queen and Mr Trump are expected to make a speech.
Mr Trump will meet with Prime Minister Theresa May later in the trip.
It could be a slightly awkward meeting after recent comments in which he said Boris Johnson would be an "excellent" prime minister and suggested Nigel Farage negotiate Brexit with the EU.
On the eve of his visit, the PM, who will stand down as Tory leader on Friday, said she was looking forward to welcoming the president.
This trip marks Mr Trump's first state visit - a formal visit by a head of state to a foreign country - involving lots of pomp and pageantry.
Mr Trump's visit is expected to be met with the protests.
The creators of the "Trump baby", a six-metre balloon depicting the president as a nappy-wearing orange baby, have said the blimp will fly outside parliament this week.
The Museum of London has said it wants to acquire the balloon, which was first raised near parliament when Mr Trump flew over for a working visit in 2018.
A large crowd gathered outside Buckingham Palace in the sunshine as they awaited the arrival of the Trumps.
A huge security operation is in place for the visit, and police officers could be seen standing at three different points on the roof at the front of the palace.