Washington (AFP) – White House hopeful Donald Trump said Friday he has been invited to London by British Prime Minister David Cameron, days after the presumptive Republican nominee warned of bad blood between the pair.
“He would like me now to visit 10 Downing Street. They put out that invitation about two days ago,” Trump told MSNBC. “And I might do it.”
Trump also insisted that if he is elected president in November, “we’re going to have good relationships.”
Cameron’s office said it was “long-standing practice” for Britain’s prime minister to meet with Republican and Democratic presidential nominees if they visit the country, but stressed there is no firm meeting lined up.
“Given the parties have yet to choose their nominees, there are no confirmed dates for this,” a Downing Street spokesman said.
Trump’s tone marked a clear shift from four days earlier, when the New York real estate mogul railed against British officials including Cameron, who had branded Trump’s suggested ban on Muslims entering the United States as “divisive, stupid and wrong.”
Trump had caused some consternation in London when he weighed in on the debate over whether Britain should stay in the European Union or pull out.
But on Friday he defended himself against accusations — including by his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton — that he was criticizing a longstanding US ally.
“Where am I attacking Great Britain? I’m not attacking them at all,” he said before again injecting himself into the debate.
“Frankly if I were Great Britain I would get out of the EU. I see what happened with the great migration destroying Europe, and the EU had a lot to do with that,” he said.
“Personally I’d get out, but I said I don’t want that to influence the people of Great Britain.”
On Monday, a Cameron spokesman said the prime minister still “disagrees” with Trump on his Muslims policy, but said Cameron has “been clear that he will work with whoever is president of the United States.”
Earlier this week, the provocative billionaire had choice words for London’s new Mayor Sadiq Khan, the first Muslim elected to run a Western capital city, who said Trump was “ignorant” about Islam and was making the world more dangerous with his rhetoric.
“I think they were very rude statements and, frankly, tell him I will remember those statements,” Trump told ITV.