Kemi Badenoch has flown to Washington DC to build relations with the Republican Party.
She will hold meetings with Republicans on Capitol Hill, but it is unclear whether she will meet with president-elect Donald Trump or his top advisers.
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The Conservative Party leader will be the keynote speaker at the International Democracy Forum dinner on Thursday.
A Conservative Party source said she will meet representatives from “centre-right parties”, but the details of her schedule will not be disclosed in advance.
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Kemi Badenoch, who was elected Conservative leader on 2 November, has not yet met Donald Trump. A source said she wants to benefit from her party’s historic links with the Republicans and build ties with the new administration.
The Opposition leader used her first PMQs last month to push the prime minister on how Mr Trump’s election could impact defence spending and free trade talks.
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Mrs Badenoch also asked whether the foreign secretary had apologised to the president-elect for calling him a “neo-Nazi sympathising sociopath”.
Sir Keir Starmer said this week his government will “never turn away” from its “special relationship” with the US, and rejected any suggestion the UK must choose between closer ties with the US or European Union.
There are reports a second state visit is now under consideration as the Prime Minister tries to build ties with the Republican Party.
