Donald Trump's UK visit set to go ahead despite tweets row

Donald Trump, right, speaks to Prime Minister Theresa May during a NATO summit of heads of state in Brussels. Picture: AP/Matt Dunham

Donald Trump is expected to visit the UK early next year despite a row over his promotion of extremist messages from an British hate-group on social media, the US Ambassador in London has said.

Woody Johnson said the incident, which saw the US president attack Theresa May over her handling of Islamist terrorism, was about “protecting Americans” and was “misinterpreted”.

Mr Johnson said President Trump was not “namby-pamby” in tackling terrorism and would “take some chances” to achieve his goal. He said he still expected Mr Trump to make a short working visit the UK in 2018 despite the flare-up.

Mr Trump was rebuked last month by Mrs May for retweeting anti-Muslim videos originally posted online by the deputy leader of the far right Britain First group.

He hit back, telling the Prime Minister to “focus on the destructive Radical Islamic Terrorism” in the UK, sparking an outcry from MPs who demanded an apology and the cancellation of a state visit. Mr Johnson told the Today programme: “I think a lot of that stuff was probably misinterpreted.”