Donald Trump should get the 'reddest of red carpets' and address parliament, says Jacob Rees-Mogg

Donald Trump should be permitted to address parliament on his long-delayed visit to the UK, Jacob Rees-Mogg has said.

The prominent Tory backbencher said the government must roll out “the reddest of red carpets” for the US president’s official trip, including allowing him to speak in the Palace of Westminster if he wishes – despite a ban from Commons speaker John Bercow.

Peers are considering allowing Mr Trump to follow in the footsteps of Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton by making a speech from the Royal Gallery on his trip to the UK in July, The Independent recently revealed.

In a wide-ranging interview with Sky News, the Eurosceptic MP also fired off a warning to Theresa May to stick to her position on taking the UK out of the customs union amid a cabinet deadlock over her Brexit approach.

Mr Rees-Mogg’s warm words were recorded before Mr Trump prompted a furious backlash by seeking to justify gun ownership with claims that knife violence in London left one hospital looking like a “war zone”.

The North East Somerset MP said: “Our relationship with the United States is our most important foreign relationship and whoever the president of the United States is, it is in our interest to treat him with the greatest respect and courtesy.

“And if that is what Mr Trump wants to do, yes of course it would be sensible to lay out the reddest of red carpets for him.

“He is a major ally. We have so many interests in common.”

After months of speculation, Downing Street confirmed that Mr Trump will make his long-awaited working visit on 13 July.

US ambassador Woody Johnson said the prospect of large-scale demonstrations would not deter the “thick-skinned” president from coming to London, after an earlier visit was scrapped amid concerns over huge protests.

Mr Rees-Mogg, who chairs the powerful European Research Group (ERG) of Tory Brexiteers, also pressed the prime minister to stick to her Brexit red lines by leaving the European customs union, rather than pursuing a “customs partnership” put forward by officials.

The ERG wrote to Ms May to oppose to the plan – under which the UK would collect import tariffs on behalf of the EU – and Mr Rees-Mogg has described the proposals as “completely cretinous”.

Ms May’s Brexit war cabinet is split down the middle over which approach to take.

Asked about the row, Mr Rees-Mogg said: “I trust the prime minister. She has said on so many occasions that she will take us out of the customs union.

“It was in the Conservative Party manifesto. That is the platform on which this country is being governed.

“It is bizarre to think that she would retreat from that promise.”

Mr Rees-Mogg also rebuffed questions about wanting to be prime minister, warning his Tory colleagues against rebelling.

“My general view is that the Conservative Party, when it does that sort of thing, when it has those periodic fits, causes itself more problems than solutions,” he said.