Donald Trump greeted by William and Kate after landing in Windsor – UK politics live | Politics
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Donald Trump has landed at Windsor, and is being greeted by William and Kate.
Daniel Boffey
Daniel Boffey is the Guardian’s chief reporter.
The queen has sufficiently recovered from a bout of “acute sinusitis” to attend Donald Trump’s visit to Windsor, Buckingham Palace has confirmed. Camilla, 78, was unable to join the rest of the royal family at the Duchess of Kent’s funeral on Tuesday,
Chris Ship from ITV News has footage of King Charles and the queen arriving at Victoria House in the grounds of Windsor Castle, near where President Trump will be landing.
King Charles and Queen Camilla have arrived at Victoria House next to the helicopter landing spot in the castle grounds. Ready to meet Mr Trump. pic.twitter.com/QGOT7wTBya
— Chris Ship (@chrisshipitv) September 17, 2025
Trump will be met by the Prince and Princess of Wales (William and Kate), who will escort him to meet the king and queen.
Liz Kendall says concessions to US on digital services tax were not part of ‘tech prosperity deal’
Liz Kendall, the science secretary, was on the Today programme this morning talking about the “tech prosperity deal” agreed with the US. (See 9.43am.)
American tech companies were reportedly pushing for exemptions from the digital services tax (DST) as part of a deal. But asked if that would happen, Kendall said that was not part of the deal.
Asked if the DST would stay, she said:
Rachel Reeves [the chancellor] has been very strong about saying people need to pay their fair share of taxes. It wasn’t included in this partnership at all.
Here is video footage of the Jeffery Epstein pictures that were projected on to Windsor Castle last night.
Lib Dems criticise Badenoch for refusing to condemn Elon Musk’s ‘fight back or die’ speech to far-right rally
Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, has criticised Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative party leader, for refusing in an LBC interview to criticise Elon Musk’s “fight back or die” speech to the rally organised by Tommy Robinson in London on Saturday, and for refusing to describe Robinson (an extremist with multiple convictions, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon) as far-right. He posted this on social media.
I’m old enough to remember when Conservative party leaders believed in law and order.
And Daisy Cooper, the Lib Dem deputy leader, said in a statement:
By pandering to extremists instead of standing up to them, she is alienating moderate Conservatives and proving the Tories are no longer the party of law and order.
British police were injured at last week’s far right rally while Elon Musk stood over and encouraged violence on our streets. It is sickening and it must be called out by every party leader.
Davey and Badenoch have both been invited to the state banquet for Trump tonight, but the Conservative leader won’t get a chance to explain herself to her rival – because Davey is boycotting the event.
US secretary of state Marco Rubio has arrived on the Windsor estate by car ready for President Donald Trump’s arrival, PA Media reports. PA says:
He shook hands with staff and surveyed the scene on the estate before heading inside a property to wait for the royal welcome.
Two sniper positions could be seen on a roof in the distance with security at peak levels.
Trump is now flying by helicopter from London to Windsor.
Here is the first dispatch of the day from White House press pool – the reporter or reporters travelling with Donald Trump and who get special, close access on condition that they share their reporting with the rest of the media. This one is from the AFP’s Danny Kemp.
Good morning from Windsor Castle, where Britain has rolled out the most British, overcast, grey sky possible. It’s 63F / 17C and ground is damp but so fair rain holding off.
Pool has been swept and is now holding in a building inside the castle complex. On the drive in, we passed the playing fields of Eton College, while there were US and UK flags on lamp-posts along Windsor high street. Light crowds and one person holding a flagpole with British and Israeli flags. The royal standard is flying above the castle, indicating that the king is in residence.
Although the pool reporters are in Windsor, Donald Trump is not with them yet because he stayed the night at the ambassador’s residence in London.
Stop Trump Coalition says president is ‘in Putin’s pocket’ and it’s ‘naive’ to think state visit will make him help UK
The Stop Trump Coalition, which is organising national protests against the president today, says it is “naive” to think that Trump will help the UK as a result of today’s visit. A spokesperson for the coalition issued this statement this morning:
We have heard from people across the political spectrum who will be joining in the protest today, because the majority agree that we should not be rolling out the red carpet for Donald Trump. The large numbers of people marching today are telling Starmer and his government that they must stand up to Trump.
There is a clear difference between having diplomatic relationships and hosting an authoritarian leader for the pageantry of a state visit. Trump is clearly in Putin’s pocket — and we would not allow Putin in the UK, let alone invite him for a state visit.
It is naive to think that because the UK wines and dines him that Donald Trump will have any interest in supporting the UK in the future. Starmer is selling out the UK for a tech deal that opens our country up to an invasion by big tech, without doing anything for the issues that matter to regular people. The only people who win in this deal are people like Peter Thiel, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg.
Yvette Cooper, the new foreign secretary, welcomed Donald Trump to the UK when he arrived last night.
This morning Tory MPs have been taunting Cooper on social media about this, by referencing some of her past comments on Trump.
This is from Ben Obese-Jecty, citing this Cooper tweet from 2017.
Yvette Cooper eagerly shook President Trump’s hand on the tarmac as he arrived for his State Visit.
It’s a long way from her persistent criticism of the President’s first term when she was in opposition.
Hypocrisy has become the thread that runs through this Labour Government.
And this is from Suella Braverman, the former home secretary, citing this Cooper tweet, also from 2017.
Wishing you all the best with your recovery from Trump Derangement Syndrome @YvetteCooperMP
Keep taking those meds! They’re obviously doing the job!
Lib Dems say UK’s failure to get US to cut steel and aluminium tariffs to zero shows Trump ‘unreliable partner’
As the Guardian reports, the long-coveted deal to slash US steel and aluminium tariffs to zero was shelved on the eve of Donald Trump’s state visit to Britain
The Liberal Democrats say this shows Trump is an unreliable partner. In a statement Daisy Cooper, the Lib Dem deputy leader, said:
It looks like the government has thrown in the towel instead of fighting to stand up for the UK steel industry.
We were told US tariffs on UK steel would be lifted completely, now that’s turned out to be yet another promise Trump has reneged on.
It just shows Trump is an unreliable partner and that rewarding a bully only gets you so far.
The best way to protect our economy is to stand with our allies in Europe and the Commonwealth and end Trump’s damaging trade war for good.
A reader asks:
Why no mention on the political blog of the bill to scrap the 2 child cap which successfully passed the first stage in the House of Commons yesterday?
Because it was a 10-minute rule bill, from the SNP MP Kirsty Blackman, that won’t be further debated, won’t be voted on, won’t go anywhere, and won’t have any influence on government thinking.
There was a vote yesterday under the 10-minute rule procedure, which allows a backbench MP every to propose a bill to the house. Yesterday Blackman proposed the bill, and the Tory MP Peter Bedford argued against it. There was then a vote on whether “leave be given to bring in” the bill and that passed by 89 votes to 79. And that is it. With no further time set aside for Blackman’s bill, it disappears into a parliamentary black hole.
Sometimes I cover 10-minute rule proceedings because they can reveal something about how much parliamentary support there is for a particular propostion. But there was quite a lot else on yesterday. And it was Lib Dems, SNP MPs, independents and a few Labour leftwingers voting for the Blackman bill – all people whose support for removing the two-child benefit cap is well known.
