Trump to go ahead with UK visit as planned: White House

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US President Donald Trump makes his way to board Air Force One before departing from Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland on January 18, 2018. Trump is heading to Coraopolis, Pennsylvania for a visit. / AFP PHOTO / MANDEL NGAN (Photo credit should read MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)

WASHINGTON, July 9, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – US President Donald Trump is maintaining his long-delayed visit to Britain later this week, the White House said Monday, as Theresa May’s government was plunged into turmoil by two shock cabinet resignations.

“The president continues to look forward to his working visit with the prime minister on July 13, and further strengthening the US-UK special relationship,” Press Secretary Sarah Sanders told reporters.

May’s government imploded Monday after Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson followed Brexit minister David Davis in resigning over the prime minister’s master plan for Britain’s future outside the European Union.

Arriving Thursday on a four-day visit following a NATO summit in Brussels, Trump was slated to discuss with May the prospects for a UK-US free trade deal after Britain leaves the EU.

Accompanied by First Lady Melania Trump, the US leader will stay largely away from London during a tour that is expected to bring tens of thousands of protesters onto the streets.

On Friday he will hold talks with May at Chequers, the manor house outside London that serves as her official country retreat, and will travel to Windsor Castle to meet Queen Elizabeth.

Trump’s trip will also take him to the birthplace of wartime leader Winston Churchill in Oxfordshire, and wrap up in Scotland, his late mother’s homeland, where he owns two luxury golf courses.