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Nato summit: Leaders arrive at Buckingham Palace for event hosted by the Queen

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Nato summit: Leaders arrive at Buckingham Palace for event hosted by the QueenBuckingham Palace event to be hosted by the Queen Prince Andrew ‘a very tough story’, President says Trump on Corbyn | ‘I know nothing about him, honestly’  US wants ‘nothing to do’ with NHS ​ Nato leaders have begun to arrive at Buckingham Palace ahead of a reception to be hosted by the Queen on Tuesday evening. It comes following an earlier diplomatic flare-up between Donald Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron. The US president denounced a claim by Mr Macron that the alliance was suffering from “brain death” as “very insulting” to other member states. But when the two men met later, at the US ambassador’s residence in London, Mr Trump acknowledged the need for greater “flexibility” in the way in which Nato responded to global threats. Mr Macron insisted he stood by his original remarks, while acknowledging US concerns that other allies had not borne their fair share of the financial burden for collective defence. Mr Trump said they had had a “very good discussion”, and welcomed Mr Macron’s comments about financial burden-sharing. Mr Johnson hosted talks with Mr Macron, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and German Chancellor Angela Merkel ahead of the main gathering in an attempt to iron out some of the differences between them. The main Nato talks will take place on Wednesday at The Grove, a country house hotel near Watford. The meeting is expected to consider new threats, including in the areas of cyber and space, after the alliance last month declared space one of its operational domains alongside air, land, sea and cyber. 7:16PM Nato leaders gather at Buckingham Palace Leaders of Nato member states and its secretary general join the Queen and the Prince of Wales for a group picture Credit: Yui Mok /PA   6:52PM Trump meets the Queen Mr Trump and the first lady Melania Trump were greeted by supporters as they were driven through the gates of Buckingham Palace. The Queen and Jens Stoltenberg, Nato’s Secretary General, greeted him upon his arrival. The Trumps greet the Queen at Buckingham Palace Credit: Geoff Pugh for the Telegraph  A supporter of Donald Trump waves the US flag outside Buckingham Palace  Credit: Alberto Pezzali /AP   6:21PM Trump late for tea with Prince Charles Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall met Mr Trump and his wife Melania at Clarence House Credit: Victoria Jones  Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall met Mr Trump and his wife Melania for tea at Clarence House earlier today but their meeting was cut short after the US President arrived late. Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall welcomed Mr Trump and First Lady Melania at their official residence shortly before 6pm on Tuesday. Protesters on the Mall could be heard and helicopters hovered above as the president’s motorcade arrived. Rush-hour traffic meant the Trumps arrived around 40 minutes after they were expected for their half-an-hour sit down with Charles and Camilla, who greeted them at the entrance before welcoming them inside. The two couples posed for pictures in the morning room before moving to private quarters for tea. Their meeting was cut short as the couples were expected at a reception at Buckingham Palace hosted by the Queen a short time later. The Prince of Wales earlier met other Nato leaders, including Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Norway Erna Solberg and Prime Minister of Italy Giuseppe Conte. Meanwhile, Princess Anne was later spotted chatting with Mr Trudeau and Mr Johnson at the Nato leaders reception in Buckingham Palace. Princess Anne chats with Justin Trudeau and Boris Johnson at Buckingham Palace Credit: Geoff Pugh for the Telegraph 5:57PM The leaders have started arriving at Buckingham Palace Here is the Prime Minister of Denmark Mette Frederiksen  And Boris Johnson with the Prime Minister of Luxembourg Xavier Bette   3:58PM Watch the moment Trump and Macron exchange blows over Islamic State The political heavyweights have been throwing barbs around all week. Here’s the moment it came to a head. French President Emmanuel Macron has said he stands by his statement that Nato appears to be suffering a “brain death”. His remarks were earlier condemned by Donald Trump, attending a meeting of Nato leaders in London, as “very insulting” to other alliance members. But at a meeting at the US ambassador’s residence, Mr Macron said there was a need within the alliance for a “strategic clarification” on how to deliver long-term peace in Europe. Both leaders struck a conciliatory note with Mr Trump acknowledging that Nato needed to look beyond the threat from Russia to issues such as Islamic terrorism. “The president and I feel that we need more flexibility so we can use it for other things, not just one specific country,” Mr Trump said. “A lot of people say it was originally meant to look at the Soviet Union, now Russia, but we also have other things to look at, whether it is radical Islamic terrorism, whether it is the tremendous growth of China.” Mr Macron acknowledged that there had been US “over-investment” in the alliance for decades – a key complaint of Mr Trump. 3:51PM Trump praises bystanders for intervening during London Bridge terror attack Donald Trump has praised members of the public who intervened in the London Bridge terror attack on Friday. The US president said: “I don’t have a comment on the London Bridge attack other than to say that I was very proud of those people that grabbed him and did such a good job between the fire extinguishers and whatever else. “It was an amazing job they did and he was very violent – you could see that, I mean this was captured very much on tape. “I think they were British citizens – the way they stepped up was incredible, that was really great. “A terrible thing, a terrible attack, a lot of people very badly hurt, I believe three or four killed… so it’s a terrible thing. I know it’s an act of terrorism, it’s been declared an act of terrorism – radical Islamic terrorism by the way, and it’s very bad. “But I think the way they stepped up, to me, that was something very special.” 3:37PM Donald Trump tweets support for Iranian protesters The moment we’ve been waiting for – Donald Trump’s first Nato-related tweet. The United States of America supports the brave people of Iran who are protesting for their FREEDOM. We have under the Trump Administration, and always will!— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 3, 2019  At the press conference earlier he laid into Iran for “killing thousands” for protesting. 3:36PM Football for the Prince of Wales Prime Minister of Norway Erna Solberg gave the Prince of Wales a football decorated with sustainability goals when the pair met at Clarence House. Ms Solberg told Charles it is used to get young people to talk about sustainability. “I don’t know if you play football,” she joked as she gave the prince the gift. He replied: “A very, very long time ago.” Charles threw the ball to a royal aide as he took Ms Solberg out of the morning room. 3:04PM Good to see you, Mr Macron After slinging words back and forth, Donald Trump and Emmanuel Macron met on Tuesday afternoon at the Nato summit.  This photograph sums up the mood quite neatly.  Trump and Macron shake hands Credit: AFP  There are cold handshakes, and then there are this. 3:01PM Behind-the-scenes take from inside the room of Trump’s press conference The Telegraph’s Defence and Security Correspondent Dominic Nicholls was among those grilling the President on Tuesday morning.  Here is a behind-the-scenes take from inside the room.  Being part of the press pool to interview Donald Trump is an experience as exhilarating as it is bewildering. He answers all the questions posed to him, just not in the correct order, so you have always to be on full alert to catch a comment about Jeremy Corbyn in an answer ostensibly about German GDP. As soon as he started, Mr Trump was machine-gunning sound bites and controversy around the room. He said there was a “tremendous spirit” around Nato, “except for one country”. The assembled journalists held our breath, but no further clues came. “We’ll be talking to that country and see how it works out,” he said, further teasing us.  “Actually that one country has a couple of points but they’re very devastating to Nato.” Which country?, blurted one of the journalists? “I’d rather have you guess,” said the President. Before we could dig further, he was off on a more familiar tack; gripes about money.  “The United States pays a disproportionate amount,” he said. “The United States is paying 4.3 per cent of a much larger GDP. Germany is paying 1.3 per cent of a much smaller GDP; that’s not fair”.  For no apparent reason, this passage ended on domestic British politics. Asked if he would be making any comments about the general election he said no: “I have no thoughts on it. I don’t want to complicate it” So far so uncontroversial. But Mr Trump then treated us to a roller coaster ride through US political campaigns, the EU referendum and the failings of former Presidents. “I’ve won a lot of elections for a lot of people,” he suddenly threw out to no one in particular, “North Carolina…Kentucky…Louisiana…go od guy, popular Governor…Kansas…I’ve won virtually every race,” he continued, listing a bewildering array of places and people that few of the Europeans in the room could follow. He finally wheeled back to Britain and something I recognised.  “But this is a different country,” he said, and my hopes soared that we were going to get an actual comment about the General Election. But no: ”…and, I say often, in Germany they like Obama, because he gave the ship away.”  What, wait, what ship?  “…’l’ll stay out of the election. I was a fan of Brexit, I called it the day before. I think Boris is very capable and will do a great job.” Like a drowning man clinging to a lifebelt I had to get the conversation back onto something I could recognise before I was sucked down the whirlpool never to be seen again I asked the President if he could work with a possible Prime Minister Corbyn. “I can work with anybody,” he boomed. “I’m a very easy person to work with.”  “Look at this gentleman,” he said, indicating the somewhat stunned Jens Stoltenberg, Nato’s Secretary General, sat next to him. “When I came in I was angry at Nato and now I’ve raised $130billion…and yet you still have many delinquents who have not paid up in full.” The waters were swirling around me again. Different tack called for. Should the NHS be on the table in trade talks?  “No, no, no, I’ve had nothing to do with it, never even thought about it. We’re doing great healthcare work…in this country they have to work that out for themselves. I don’t even know where that rumour started. We have absolutely nothing to do with it.” Confusion reigned, especially after comments on his state visit to the UK when he seemed to suggest the NHS would be included in any future negotiations. Luckily the President then cleared up any doubt: “If you handed it to us on a silver platter, we want nothing to do with it,” he said. The five-minute photo call had now been going on for over half an hour. There was a surreal quality to the event, as if time stood still. Donald Trump during the impromptu press conference Credit: REX Suddenly voices were raised at the back of the room. “Has a fist fight broken out?” called the President. For a moment I wondered if Mr Corbyn had snuck in, posing as a hack. No, it was Mike Pompeo, US Secretary of State, squeezing into the room Desperate for an actual answer to a security question, I asked why North Korea had continued its nuclear programme despite three meetings between Mr Trump and President Kim Jung Un. The President brightened. “I have a lot of confidence in him, we’ll see what happens” he answered, before continuing in a manner that did little to spread confidence. “He definitely likes sending rockets up doesn’t he?” he said smiling disconcertingly at me. “That’s why I call him rocket man. It may work out, it may not. If I weren’t President you’d be at war right now in Asia and who knows where that leads.” Attention was drawn back to the Nato member without the ‘tremendous spirit’ Mr Trump had mentioned at the start. Could he have been hinting at France? “President Macron said Nato was brain dead,” Mr Trump started, “I think that’s very insulting. I was very surprised…It’s a tough statement, but when you make a statement like that, hat was a very very nasty statement to make to 28 countries. You just can’t go around making statements like that about Nato, it’s very disrespectful.” “Nobody needs Nato more than France,” the President said, fully in his stride now, and seemingly oblivious to statements he has made in the past that seemed to question Nato’s viability. “You just look back over the last, a long period of time. Frankly the one that benefits really the least is the United States.  “We’re helping Europe to go against a common foe. That may or may not be a foe. But there are other foes out there also. So that’s why when France makes a statement about Nato, it’s a very dangerous statement to make.  “I see France breaking off and I’m a little surprised at that. “I’ve always had a great relationship with Emmanuel. Sometimes he’ll say things he shouldn’t say, but he’s gotta do what he’s gotta do. Sometimes I think he does things that are counterproductive to his own country.” And with that we were ushered out of the room, blinking in the light, wondering if it had all been a dream, and concluding that sometimes Mr Trump has just gotta do what he’s gotta do, and we all have to make any sense of it we can. 1:46PM Nato is ‘politically in some trouble, militarily alright,’ says ex-secretary general Former secretary general of Nato from 2004 to 2009 Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said the organisation was “politically in some trouble, militarily more or less alright”. Asked how healthy Nato was, he told BBC Radio 4’s World at One programme: “From a military point of view, apart from the perennial budget discussions, Nato is relatively healthy. From a political point of view, it would need some antibiotics, I think.” He added: “There is not sufficient serious political debate around the Nato table … Nato should take its political role and its political consultation seriously.” 1:37PM Prince Andrew will not attend the Nato events The Duke of York, who stepped down from public duties after his disastrous Newsnight interview about his association with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, is not attending. With all the Queen’s other children at the prestigious palace event, it is likely Andrew would have attended if circumstances had been different. The duke stood down after he was criticised for showing little sympathy with Epstein’s victims and no remorse for his friendship with the disgraced financier. The reception falls a day after the broadcast of Panorama’s interview with Virginia Giuffre, who alleges she slept with Andrew when she was a teenager. Ms Giuffre told the BBC she was left “horrified and ashamed” after an alleged sexual encounter with Andrew when she was 17. The duke strenuously denies having any form of sexual contact or relationship with her. Panorama also claimed it had uncovered an email allegedly sent by Andrew to socialite Ghislaine Maxwell, who is accused of procuring victims for Epstein, asking for her help in dealing with claims by Ms Giuffre. 12:14PM Pictures from this morning’s Nato briefings US President Donald Trump speaks during his meeting with Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at Winfield House, London Credit: Nicholas Kamm/AFP North Macedonia’s Prime Minister Zoran Zaev speaks during an event ‘NATO Engages’ at Central Hall Westminster Credit: Francisco Seco/AP A British police officer cycles along The Mall past the flags of Nato Credit: Simon Dawson/Bloomberg   11:02AM Defence Secretary says ‘hybrid warfare is our new reality’ Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has said Nato is facing new threats and must “continue to adapt” by investing, innovating and remaining collective. Speaking at the Nato Engages conference, Mr Wallace said: “To those that doubt the potency of Nato, you should ask yourself why – if an organisation is without purpose – do our adversaries put so much into destabilising our alliance?” He added: “But today we face new challenges, and keeping with our traditions, we must continue to adapt. “Hybrid warfare is our new reality – it is constant and challenging to all our aims.” Mr Wallace said the response to these new threats should be threefold – it should start with investment, involve innovation and revolve around solidarity. He said: “It starts with investment, investment in both our conventional forces and in new capabilities that are needed to address the challenges that lie ahead.” 10:32AM Queen to host Donald Trump and world leaders The Queen is preparing to host US President Donald Trump at a Buckingham Palace reception for Nato leaders. Mr Trump landed at Stansted Airport in Air Force One with his wife Melania at 10pm on Monday for his third visit as US President. He will gather with Western politicians and their partners in the royal residence’s grand State Rooms. The Queen, the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall will formally greet the Nato leaders at the reception, which marks 70 years of the alliance. Charles and the monarch will then join the politicians for a group photograph. The royals will be out in force for the event, including the Duchess of Cambridge, the Earl of Wessex, the Princess Royal, the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester and Princess Alexandra. Donald Trump and the Queen make a toast at Buckingham Palace in June Credit: Getty The Duke of Cambridge is away in the Middle East and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are on a six-week break from royal engagements. The Duke of York, who stepped down from public duties after his disastrous Newsnight interview about his association with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, is not attending. Mr Trump has repeatedly criticised Nato, describing it as “obsolete and disproportionately too expensive (and unfair) for the US”. Nato – the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation – was established in Washington on April 4 1949. It began as a 12-member alliance to counterbalance the growing military might of the Soviet Union and to keep the peace in post-war Europe. The political and military alliance now has 29 member countries. 10:29AM The Queen is in the sky Our reporter Tony Diver has been monitoring the skies, and it looks like the Queen is airborne.  Out from Sandringham, heading to London ���� The Queen’s Helicopter Flight Sikorsky S-76 G-XXEB TQF1 pic.twitter.com/0y5cVCImzi— CivMilAir ✈ (@CivMilAir) December 3, 2019 She is hosting the world leaders this evening at Buckingham Palace.  10:26AM Nato’s coming home Well, that five-minute briefing turned quite quickly into an almost hour-long press conference.  So here’s something a bit more lighthearted from Downing Street. This week @NATO is coming home. The first NATO HQ was established at 13 Belgrave Square in London in 1950. Lord Ismay made his maiden speech as the first Secretary General in the building in 1952. NATOLondonpic.twitter.com/eCWcMzXzcX— UK Prime Minister (@10DowningStreet) December 3, 2019 10:18AM Prince Andrew ‘story is tough’, Trump says Donald Trump’s final question from the gathered press was about the Duke of York.  The exchange:  Reporter: “Do you have an opinion on Prince Andrew stepping down from public duties?” Mr Trump: “On who?” Reporter: “Prince Andrew.” Mr Trump: “No, I don’t know Prince Andrew. “But it’s a tough story. It’s a very tough story – I don’t know.” 10:13AM Trump ‘knows nothing about’ Jeremy Corbyn Donald Trump was asked if Jeremy Corbyn should be doing more to address the issues of anti-semitism within the Labour Party.  The reply: “I know nothing about the gentleman, honestly. I know nothing about him.” 10:10AM Trump ‘trying to work something out’ on Harry Dunn situation Harry Dunn was killed in a motorbike crash in Northamptonshire on August 27. Anne Sacoolas is believed to have been driving on the wrong side of the road when she hit 19-year-old Mr Dunn’s motorbike outside RAF Croughton. The suspect, 42-year-old Mrs Sacoolas, who is married to a US intelligence official, was able to leave the country on a private flight under the benefit of diplomatic immunity following the crash. Asked if he’s going to extradite the suspect, Mr Trump said: “You’re talking about the woman who had the accident that killed the young man on the motorcycle. “I had his parents up and they’re lovely people. “And I’ve talked to the woman who has diplomatic immunity. “We’re trying to work things out.” 10:04AM Trump ‘has confidence’ in North Korea denuclearisation The President has faith in Kim Jong-un’s vow to denuclearise the peninsula, he said in response to a question put to him by The Telegraph’s Defence and Security Correspondent Dominic Nicholls. Having become the first US President to meet with the North Korean leader, he said: “I have confidence in him, he likes me. I like him.   “We have a good relationship, so we’ll see.” “He likes sending rockets up doesn’t he, that’s why I call him Rocketman.  “We’d be in a war right now if it wasn’t for me.  Donald Trump meeting Kim Jong-un in June 2019 Credit: Susan Walsh/AP “We’d be in a war right now in Asia. “But we have peace. I have a very good personal relationship with him, possibly the only relationship he has in the world like that.  “They call it the hermit kingdom.  “I know a lot about his hermit kingdom.  “We’d be in World War Three right now if we’d have listened to Obama.”  9:58AM US ‘wouldn’t do anything with NHS even if it was handed on silver platter’ So – there you have it. “If you handed it to us on a silver platter, we want nothing to do with it.” US President @realDonaldTrump says he has “nothing to do with it” and “wouldn’t want to” when asked if the NHS should be included in post-Brexit trade talks Read more: https://t.co/k1FWZTcx60pic.twitter.com/zBSZiudk3H— Sky News (@SkyNews) December 3, 2019 The US President says the NHS is not and will not form any part of a UK-US trade deal. Asked if the NHS should be on the table in trade talks, Mr Trump said: “No, not at all, I have nothing to do with it. Never even thought about it, honestly.” Mr Trump added: “I don’t even know where that rumour started. We have absolutely nothing to do with it and we wouldn’t want to if you handed it to us on a silver platter, we want nothing to do with it.” 9:54AM Trump lashes out at ‘delinquent’ countries Donald Trump branded nations who did not meet the spending target on defence as “delinquents”.  Donald Trump brands NATO countries that don’t meet 2% spending target on defence as “delinquents” and says figure shd be raised to 4%— norman smith (@BBCNormanS) December 3, 2019 He is talking in a press conference in London. 9:49AM Trump will ‘work with anybody’ if Labour wins election Mr Trump said he could “work with anybody” when asked whether he could work with Jeremy Corbyn as prime minister. He replied: “I can work with anybody, I’m a very easy person to work with, you wouldn’t believe it.” 9:43AM Tax on French wine to increase, Trump says Donald Trump has hit back at French President Emmanuel Macron over his claim that Nato was “brain dead”. The US president, in London for a meeting of alliance leaders, said Mr Macron’s comments were “very insulting”. Speaking at the US ambassador’s residence, Mr Trump said he was “very surprised” at his remarks. “Turkey responded by saying that he was brain dead which was interesting,” he told reporters. He added: “I heard that President Macron said that Nato was brain dead. I think that is very insulting to a lot of different forces. It has a great purpose.” After criticizing French President Macron for calling NATO “brain dead,” Trump says the US benefits the least from the international alliance: https://t.co/8TwTVsCrHApic.twitter.com/t88cXDyVZ7— CNN International (@cnni) December 3, 2019 Mr Trump said that taxes would start to rise on French products, including wine. “Nobody needs Nato more than France,” he said.  “And frankly the one that benefits the least is the United States. When France makes a statement like they did against Nato, it’s a very dangerous statement to make.” 9:42AM Donald Trump ‘will meet Boris Johnson’ US President Donald Trump has said he will be meeting with Boris Johnson during the course of his visit to the UK for a two-day meeting of Nato leaders. Speaking during a breakfast meeting with Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at the US ambassador’s residence in London, Mr Trump said he had “no thoughts” on the UK General Election. Asked if he would be meeting Mr Johnson, the president said: “I will be meeting with him, yes.” He added: “I have many meetings. I have meetings set up with lots of different countries.” Asked why he is staying out of the General Election, Mr Trump said: “Because I don’t want to complicate it.” He added: “I’ll stay out of the election. You know that I was a fan of Brexit. I called it the day before,” he said. Mr Trump added: “I think Boris is very capable and I think he’ll do a good job.” 9:15AM Protesters set to march from Trafalgar Square to Palace  Protesters are planning to march from London’s Trafalgar Square down The Mall to the palace to demonstrate as the event takes place on Tuesday. Among the protesters will be NHS nurses, doctors and workers campaigning over potential risks to the NHS from a future US-UK trade deal. Nick Dearden, from Global Justice Now, said: “Tuesday’s demonstration will be led by nurses and doctors – to symbolise the millions of people who will stand up for our health service against a US president who simply represents the biggest, greediest corporate interests in the world.” Stand Up To Trump, Stop the War Coalition and the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) will be among the groups taking part. Lindsey German, from Stop the War Coalition, said: “We need an alternative to war, militarism and racism – an anti-war government and a mass demonstration against Trump and Nato.” CND general secretary Kate Hudson described Nato as “a hugely dangerous and destructive nuclear-armed alliance with the capacity to destroy all forms of life many times over”. She added: “This is no time to celebrate and welcome it to London.” 9:09AM Nato Summit timeline – what’s happening when? TUESDAY 9.30am Meeting with the President of the Unites States 11.30am NATO Secretary General addresses the NATO Engages: Innovating the Alliance conference 4pm Deputy Secretary General addresses the NATO Engages conference 6pm Reception hosted by Her Majesty the Queen at Buckingham Palace WEDNESDAY 7.30am Statement by the NATO Secretary General 7.45am World leaders arrive 9.05am Official handshake ceremony with the NATO Secretary General and the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Boris Johnson 9.35am Family photo of NATO Heads of State and Government 10am ​Meeting of the North Atlantic Council at the level of Heads of State and Government 1.30pm Press conference by the NATO Secretary General

Source: yahoo.com/news