STV NewsA former UK defence secretary has added her support for President Trump’s state visit to Britain.
Penny Mordaunt was speaking during a flying weekend visit to Moray, where she met Conservative Party colleagues including former Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross.
In February, Donald Trump was invited for an unprecedented second state visit by the King as he met with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer at the White House.
However just days later a clash between Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy was broadcast around the world.
Trump accused Zelenskyy of “gambling with World War Three” and told him to “come back when he is ready for peace”.
The Trump administration and Ukrainian officials had been expected to sign off on a critical minerals deal, intended in part to pay back the US for aid it has sent Kyiv since the start of the war, before talks broke down.
Since the fiery exchange, almost 200,000 people have signed a petition calling for King Charles’ invitation to the US leader to be cancelled.
Politicians including Scottish Greens co-leader Patrick Harvie and First Minister John Swinney cast doubt over whether the state visit should be allowed to go ahead following the confrontation in the Oval Office.
However Mordaunt said Trump should still be welcomed to the UK for a state visit, saying the US President made Europe take defence spending “seriously”.
She told STV News: “He has been able to get Europe to actually step up and the UK as well, we’ve got a bit more to do on defence spending. But at long last, Europe is taking these issues seriously.
“What he’s not managed to do yet is get Russia to put down its weapons and come to the negotiating table. That is what we need him to do.”
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