Nigel Farage and Liz Truss are among the UK politicians set to attend the US Republican national convention this week as the British right seeks to deepen ties with its American counterparts before a predicted victory for Donald Trump in the presidential race.
An assassination attempt on Trump on Saturday had prompted Farage, the Reform UK party leader, to make plans to fly to the US, he said, adding that he was doing it “not just as a friend but because we have to stand up for democracy”.
The convention, which runs from Monday to Thursday, also provides Farage with an opportunity to meet influential rightwing US figures as well as leveraging his personal brand in advance of his return as a presenter on Britain’s GB News channel.
The newly elected MP, who leads a five-strong group from the populist right party in parliament, will depart after the king’s speech in the House of Commons on Wednesday, when the new Labour government’s priorities for the months ahead are set out.
More than 50,000 people are due in Milwaukee for the convention, where Trump will officially accept his party’s nomination to contest this year’s US presidential election.
Truss, Britain’s shortest-serving prime minister, is expected to speak at the event on Wednesday. Other speakers on the same day will include the oil magnate Harold Hamm, who has contributed $814,000 (£627,000) to Trump’s 2024 re-election bid.
Truss had already been seeking to build a profile in the US as a guiding force on the right after her brief stint in Downing Street, but has even more reason to try to carve out a new political career after losing her parliamentary seat in the 4 July general election.
In the hours after Trump was shot in his right ear at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania, she was among those who had tweeted her support for him. Posting a picture on X of the former president with his fist in the air after the attack, she tweeted: “The strength the world needs. #PresidentTrump.”
However, one Anglo-American conservative figure said any focus on UK-US ties would take a backseat at the event, dedicated largely to Trump.
They added of Truss: “She gets no real traction here. People see right through it and everyone talks of how unimpressive she is.”
The former Tory leader has run into trouble in the past at US conservative events. She was criticised earlier this year when she appeared alongside Steve Bannon, a former Trump adviser, and failed to speak up when he called the British far-right activist Tommy Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, a “hero”.
A range of speakers drawn largely from the dominant “Make America Great Again (Maga)” wing of the US Republican party are expected to address the event, including members of Trump’s family.
Also expected to feature are the evangelical leader Franklin Graham, the broadcaster Tucker Carlson and Dana White, the president of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. A former White House trade adviser, Peter Navarro, is also expected to address the convention hours after his release from jail on contempt of court charges.
Trump could also use the convention to reveal his pick to be his vice-presidential running mate, with the Ohio senator JD Vance thought to be among the frontrunners.
