Who are Trump’s biggest British supporters?
High-profile fans of the US president hit back at protests against his visit
Donald Trump's arrival in the UK today is expected to be met by widespread protests - but not everyone will be siding with the demonstrators.
The president is expected to mostly avoid London during his visit in an apparent bid to avoid demonstrators angered by his administration’s policies, with the US embassy warning that events may turn violent.
Trump has “already ruffled feathers this week at a Nato summit in Brussels and is unlikely to escape further controversy while in Britain”, says The Independent. Yet while his divisive rhetoric has sparked outrage, it has also garnered him a small, but dedicated, group of British followers.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Here are some the president’s most ardent UK supporters:
Nigel Farage
Few people have been as vocal about their admiration for the US president as Farage. The former UKIP leader was flown out to the US to make speeches for Trump during his presidential campaign in 2016, and was the first British politician to meet him following his shock victory over Hillary Clinton.
Farage has in the past described Trump as a “friend for life”, and expressed outrage earlier this week after London Mayor Sadiq Khan approved plans to fly a “Trump baby” balloon over Westminster during his visit.
“It's an insult,” Farage told Fox News. “Whatever Sadiq Khan thinks about Donald Trump, he should not put that personal enmity above the fact that President Trump is the leader of the biggest and most important country in the world.”
Boris Johnson
Having dramatically resigned as foreign secretary earlier this week, it seems unlikely that Johnson’s name will feature in any official itinerary for Trump’s visit.
All the same, despite saying in 2015 that “the only reason I wouldn't go to some parts of New York is the real risk of meeting Donald Trump”, Johnson last month told a meeting at Institute of Directors in London that he was “increasingly admiring” of Trump and that there was “method in his madness”.
Trump reciprocated those sentiments during the Nato summit this week, saying: “Boris Johnson is a friend of mine, he’s been very, very nice to me, very supportive.”
Katie Hopkins
Described by The Scotsman newspaper as a “far-right troll”, columnist Hopkins has espoused racist views that once prompted anti-racism campaign group Hope Not Hate to describe her as a “full-on propaganda/PR machine for extremists”.
She has long been a fan of Trump, and this week tweeted: “Dear 63 million Americans. Thank you. You voted this great man to power. Failed by our treacherous Prime Minister and Muslim mayor, Britain looks to you for hope.”
Trump has previously praised Hopkins for speaking out about the UK’s “Muslim problems”.
Piers Morgan
Journalist Morgan, currently a host on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, has been a friend of Trump for years but appears to have a complex relationship with him.
“While Morgan has occasionally found grounds to criticise the president, this week he has been obsessed with one issue in particular: the Trump baby” and has “laid into London’s Mayor Sadiq Khan” for allowing the stunt, The Guardian reports.
Last year Morgan told TV chat show Loose Women that he “saw no reason to reject the bond the pair have built over a decade”, the newspaper adds, “even though he strongly disagreed with the president’s move to ban immigrants from seven countries”.
Jacob Rees-Mogg
The prominent Conservative backbencher has insisted that the British government should roll out “the reddest of red carpets” for the president’s visit and that Trump should be allowed to speak in the Palace of Westminster in defiance of a ban from Commons speaker John Bercow, The Independent reports.
“He is a major ally. We have so many interests in common,” Rees-Mogg said.
Shortly before the presidential election in 2016, the MP said that he would “almost certainly” back Trump if he were an American.
Tommy Robinson
Former English Defence League leader Robinson, who was jailed for 13 months in May for contempt of court, has become an “unlikely hero” for many Trump supporters, says The Guardian. When Robinson was first arrested, Donald Trump Jr, the president’s eldest son, tweeted: “Don’t let America follow these footsteps.”
Robinson, in turn, defended the president after a backlash for retweeting a series of videos by Jayda Fransen, one of the leaders of far-right hate group Britain First. Robinson told a far-right website that the shocked public response had become “a competition to be more appalled at Trump than the next person”, when the West should be “addressing the fact that Muslim countries are committing horrific acts of violence”.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Women are getting their own baseball league again
In the Spotlight The league is on track to debut in 2026
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
Giant TVs are becoming the next big retail commodity
Under the Radar Some manufacturers are introducing TVs over 8 feet long
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
When will mortgage rates finally start coming down?
The Explainer Much to potential homebuyers' chagrin, mortgage rates are still elevated
By Becca Stanek, The Week US Published
-
Last hopes for justice for UK's nuclear test veterans
Under the Radar Thousands of ex-service personnel say their lives have been blighted by aggressive cancers and genetic mutations
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published
-
'It may not be surprising that creative work is used without permission'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
What message is Trump sending with his Cabinet picks?
TODAY'S BIG QUESTION By nominating high-profile loyalists like Matt Gaetz and RFK Jr., is Trump serious about creating a functioning Cabinet, or does he have a different plan in mind?
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Gaetz ethics report in limbo as sex allegations emerge
Speed Read A lawyer representing two women alleges that Matt Gaetz paid them for sex, and one witnessed him having sex with minor
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
The clown car cabinet
Opinion Even 'Little Marco' towers above his fellow nominees
By Mark Gimein Published
-
What Mike Huckabee means for US-Israel relations
In the Spotlight Some observers are worried that the conservative evangelical minister could be a destabilizing influence on an already volatile region
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
The Pentagon faces an uncertain future with Trump
Talking Point The president-elect has nominated conservative commentator Pete Hegseth to lead the Defense Department
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
'All Tyson-Paul promised was spectacle and, in the end, that's all we got'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published