Kemi Badenoch has flown to Washington DC as she seeks to build links with the Republican Party ahead of Donald Trump’s return to the White House.
The Conservative Party leader plans to meet Republican figures on Capitol Hill, where the US Congress is based.
Ms Badenoch will also attempt to woo members of Mr Trump’s political party as she speaks at a gathering of centre-right political parties in the US capital.
She is vying with Sir Keir Starmer for the president-elect’s attention as senior British politicians attempt to curry favour with the second Trump administration before it begins in January.
Sir Keir met the incoming president at Trump Tower in New York in September, and recently revealed he had promised Mr Trump the UK “will invest more deeply than ever in this transatlantic bond with our American friends in the years to come”.
The Prime Minister has been dogged by questions about past criticism of Mr Trump by senior Labour Party figures, and also by an ongoing war of words with businessman Elon Musk, who will advise the next president on cutting US government expenditure.
It is unclear whether Ms Badenoch will meet Mr Trump when she attends the International Democracy Union forum, as Tory sources would not comment on her schedule.
She will be the keynote speaker at a dinner on Thursday at which the Bush-Thatcher Award for Freedom is presented.
