When Keir Starmer greeted President Trump on his visit to Washington, he held a piece of paper in his hand that would have been rather welcome for The Donald. It was nothing less than a formal invitation from King Charles for the second-term president to conduct a second state visit to Britain, and it would be an occasion on which every single indulgence would be offered to him. The letter, which Trump proudly demonstrated in front of the cameras, was emollient in nature, to say nothing of almost parodically polite. It said that ‘I can only say that it would be [a] pleasure to extend that invitation once again, in the hope that you [will at] some stage be visiting Turnberry and a detour to a relatively near neighbour might not cause you too much inconvenience. An alternative might perhaps be for you to visit Balmoral.’
Not only did the letter suggest that ‘quite apart from this presenting an opportunity to discuss a wide range of issues of mutual interest, it would also offer a valuable chance to plan a historic second state visit to the United Kingdom’; it also acknowledged that: ‘As you will know this is unprecedented by a US President.
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