Sir Keir Starmer is not set to attend Donald Trump’s inauguration but a number of Brits are and some of the names are… well, less obvious.
The president-elect is set to be sworn in on Monday (follow our live blog here) in front of thousands of supporters and a dozen or so (A to E list) British politicians.
Former prime minister Liz Truss and ex-home secretary Priti Patel are both in Washington DC and will rub shoulders with characters such as Reform’s Nigel Farage and Labour’s Lord Glasman.
It is not convention for a UK prime minister to attend an inauguration, although this hasn’t stopped the Labour Government welcoming the second coming of Mr Trump.
Foreign secretary David Lammy, previously a critic, called the president-elect “gracious and generous” over the weekend, while Labour chiefs moved away from Sir Sadiq Khan’s criticism of him.
Here is the list of names who have made the trip across the pond for the historic day. For names of world leaders and tech bros (if those two terms are still distinguishable) in attendance, a full list is here.
The Brits swarming to Trump's inauguration
Laurence Fox
Needless to say, the Mayor of London will not be at the inauguration but, instead, those present will include Laurence Fox – a former City Hall contender who missed out on the last vote because he did not fill in his nomination forms correctly.
The actor-turned-politician is proudly wearing his Make America Great Again cap in the US capital but who knows if his invite is in recognition of his 0.56 per cent vote share in the 2024 London Assembly election or because Mr Trump is secretly a big fan of ITV’s Lewis.
Suella Braverman
The former foreign secretary coincidentally shared a flight with Mr Fox and said she is “very grateful for the invitation”. Also wearing a MAGA hat, she walked through customs alongside Mr Fox but did not state if she had made the journey to advance her work as MP for Fareham and Waterlooville.
She did not answer questions from Channel 4 News as to whether she received a personal invite from Mr Trump.
Ms Braverman said of her support for Mr Trump last year: “I think there's been a real track record of peace and stability globally that we saw from Trump when he was president and that we can expect going forward. And right now the world is a very volatile place.”
Nigel Farage
Say what you like about Nigel Farage, but how many allies of Mr Trump, from the beginning of his first term, are still left standing, having never fallen out?
Since the start of Mr Trump’s first term, the right-wing politician has been aligned to two parties (three if we count The Brexit Party), separated from his partner and started a new relationship, seen his Coutts account closed, joined GB News, appeared on I’m a Celebrity… and finally become an MP (having failed on seven previous occasions).
Really, the one thing both men have come to rely on is their relationship with one another – even after Mr Farage’s short-lived bromance with Elon Musk came to an end.
On election eve, in a shout out to his Pennsylvania audience, Mr Trump called Mr Farage the “big winner” of the last general election.
At the time of writing, Reform is 321 seats short of a parliamentary majority. Yet, there is no doubt that this is the most enduring, if not special, of British-American political relationships.
Priti Patel
The hardline anti-immigration former home secretary is relatively left wing in comparison to the names on this list, but she was never going to remain in Witham for the day of the inauguration.
For good measure, Ms Patel shared a video on her Instagram where she spoke into the camera (or maybe slightly to the left of it) explaining why the bond between the two nations is “more important than ever”.
“We call on them to dust off the plans we had when we were in government for an ambitious trading partnership,” she said. For good measure, she mimicked her old party leader, Rishi Sunak, in not wielding an umbrella despite the rain falling on her.
Liz Truss
And to think, had her disastrous 2022 mini budget not brought down her short stint in number 10, Liz Truss might still be prime minister – and therefore wouldn’t be in Washington DC to witness the inauguration.
Whether grateful or not for her new-found freedom, Ms Truss is making full use of it and posted an Instagram photo wearing a Make America Great Again hat as she stood under an American flag.
Despite her 45 days in charge, she did meet outgoing president Joe Biden and said the two nations are “steadfast allies”.
Conor McGregor
Even more surprising than the fact the UFC champion is attending the inauguration is that he joined Nigel Farage for the trip west.
"Just landed in Washington DC to witness @realDonaldTrump become Double Champ!" the Dublin native tweeted.
If wrestling-mad Mr Trump has plans to turn his love for combat sports into any kind of policy, then McGregor will stand to benefit more than most. It might not even be the most surprising of day one policies.
Boris Johnson
Boris Johnson is a man after Mr Trump’s own image and maybe even his own heart – even though the pair’s respective time in power was limited to just two parallel years.
“He’s tough and he’s smart,” said Mr Trump of Mr Johnson upon his election as prime minister in 2019. “They call him Britain Trump and that is a good thing, they like me over there…”
However, despite being called “tough and smart” by his American mate though, Mr Johnson could never be the favourite of the then president, who interrupted his congratulatory message to praise Nigel Farage.
“Is Nigel here?” Mr Trump then said, desperately looking around the press conference room for a sign of the Reform man. “Where is he? He is here? Nigel? Where is Nigel?
“I know he will work well with Boris and I know they will do some tremendous things.”
For clarity, Mr Johnson and Mr Farage were never at the same party – let alone in the same government. But, despite this mishap, Mr Johnson has arrived in Washington DC to wish Mr Trump well.
Ant Middleton
And finally, is an inauguration really a transfer of power unless the host of SAS: Who Dares Wins is there to see it?
Well, thankfully, Ant Middleton has made sure we don’t have to find out what horrors might await us by flying over to Washington DC and posing for a photo with… you guessed it… Nigel Farage.
