Donald Trump UK state visit: three-day stay likely to be costliest ever diplomatic trip for British taxpayers, Scotland Yard suggests The US president will be joined by his presidential car, nicknamed ‘the Beast’, as well as the official helicopter, Marine One

Donald Trump’s three-day state visit next week is likely to be the costliest ever diplomatic trip for the British taxpayer, Scotland Yard has suggested.

The US president’s working trip last year drained around £18m from the public purse as 10,000 officers were deployed to help with security and policing, the largest police mobilisation since the London 2011 riots. The US embassy said that in addition to security and staff for himself and his family, Mr Trump will be joined by the presidential car, nicknamed “the Beast”, as well as the official helicopter, Marine One.

Given the upgraded status of this visit, security is expected to be even tighter. Safety concerns have already led to cancellation of a gilded carriage ride, typical for a state visit to Buckingham Palace.

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Avoiding embarrassment

The Stop Trump Coalition is promising to follow the President wherever he goes – starting at Buckingham Palace on Monday when the President is due to meet the Queen for a private lunch. Last year an estimated 250,000 people marched in London and another 150,000 joined protests around the UK against the President’s visit. Similar numbers are expected to join forces again next week.

Officials will also be keen to avoid another embarrassing incident following the one that occurred after what happened when Mr Trump paid a visit to Scotland last July.

In Ayrshire, a man was charged by police for an alleged breach of a no-fly zone after a microlight dragging a banner reading “Trump well below par” flew within metres of the President during his time at Turnberry golf course. Regional demonstrations across the UK are also planned, including in Manchester, Birmingham, Edinburgh and Belfast.

A spokeswoman for the Met Police told i: “This will be a multi-agency policing operation with a very experienced command team in place. We are currently looking at resource allocation and it is too early to speculate about the cost of the policing and security operation at this stage, but it will be significant.”

Tens of thousands of protesters will gather in Trafalgar Square at 11am on Tuesday as the “diverse carnival of resistance that shows we reject Trump’s divisive politics and policies of bigotry, hate and greed”, according to the coalition.

“The police are now allowing us to march from Trafalgar Square down to Whitehall. The Carnival of Resistance will be going on yards from where Trump will be at Downing Street.We’re delighted our message will be heard: Trump and his politics are not welcome here,” a spokesperson for the group said Friday.

Migrant focus

One of the central points of protest is the number of migrant children dying in detention in the US. The Trump administration was last week forced to reveal that a 10-year-old migrant girl from El Salvador died in its custody 29 September “due to fever and respiratory distress” after complications with surgery, sparking further outcry after a spate of recent migrant child deaths while detained by the US government.

Her death, which was not previously reported by authorities and was only made public late on Wednesday after a report by CBS News, follows that of two-year-old Wilmer Josué Ramírez Vásquez; seven-year-old Jakelin Caal Maquin; eight-year-old Felipe Gómez Alonz and the 16-year-olds Carlos Hernández Vásquez and Juan de León Gutiérrez. The The Stop Trump Coalition wants people to join their protest and “share your outrage”.

Liberal Democrat former health minister Norman Lamb told i: “I do not welcome Trump on this state visit. The Prime Minister should not have recommended this visit to the Queen. He will be only the third US President to come to the UK on a state visit. So there was absolutely no diplomatic necessity to invite him.

“He does not share our values. It will cost a fortune to police. The Conservative government has made the UK an international laughing stock by its total incompetence over Brexit. Attempting to curry favour with a scandal-dogged US President who has very low approval ratings in his own country just emphasises the mess that the Tories are in.

“Trump is bound to use the visit for his own political purposes and to varnish his own vanity. Why on earth is the British taxpayer funding this offensive indulgence?”

Dawn Butler, shadow women and equalities minister, said: “If you do one thing next week it’s just come out on your lunch break and stand up against Trump. Stand up against all the hatred that he uses to elevate himself. Say: ‘Not here, no in our country. We don’t want it and we don’t want you’.”

Climate denial

Other protesters are focusing on the President’s views on climate change. Earlier this week, the Trump administration hardened its attack on climate science. Having already rolled back environmental regulations, pulled the US out of the Paris climate accord and brushed aside dire predictions about the effects of climate change, the White House will over the next few months complete the rollback of the most significant federal effort to curb greenhouse-gas emissions, initiated during the Obama administration.

As a result, parts of the government will no longer fulfill what scientists say is one of the most urgent jobs of climate science studies: reporting on the future effects of a rapidly warming planet and presenting a picture of what the earth could look like by the end of the century if the global economy continues to emit heat-trapping carbon dioxide pollution from burning fossil fuels.

Elijah McKenzie-Jackson, an 15 year old student and activist with UK Student Climate Network, said London would be brought to a standstill by the marchers.

“He’s a climate denier and he’s not doing anything to save our globe, which is currently in a crisis. We need your help.Please come down to Trafalgar Square to support us and to support our world and planet.”

The list of grievances against Trump is long. The listing for one Facebook event page promoting separate protest marches, which have drawn interest from tens of thousands of people and co-ordinated by 16 groups and individuals including Momentum and the Stop the War Coalition, says: “We will be taking to the streets opposing Trump’s racism. Themed areas will feature throughout the protest with climate justice, migrants’ rights, anti-racism, women’s rights, LGBT rights, anti-war and trade union rights and many more.”

Baby blimp

The Stop Trump Coalition is also “confident” of being allowed to fly their huge Donald Trump baby blimp again during the state visit. The phone-wielding, nappy-wearing inflatable effigy made its first appearance in July last year during his previous working visit.

Organisers have applied for permission to fly the blimp at Parliament Square on Tuesday and the Greater London Authority has confirmed it is reviewing the request. It is understood the decision will be made jointly with the Metropolitan Police.

However, the blimp will only be unleashed if a fundraising page for charities “pushing back against the politics of hate and division” hits £30,000 – and at lunch timeon Friday, only £18,070 had been raised. All funds being raised will support charitable groups.

Organiser Kevin Smith said: “We will only fly the baby if we hit the target. I don’t think it’s a done deal but we will definitely be pushing it over the coming days.”

Mr Smith added: “We’re in the process of applying for permission at the moment and that’s a mixture of talking to the police and the Greater London Authority, and we’re applying for essentially the same permit as what we had last time.”

The blimp is currently stored in a “suitcase in Kentish Town” and organisers are “presuming” permission will be given, Mr Smith said. A spokesman for the Greater London Authority said a decision will be made in “due course”.

Talking robot

This year’s protest props will also include a 16ft talking robot of Mr Trump sitting on a gold toilet. It makes fart noises and plays recordings of common Trump phrases such as “a witch-hunt,” “you are fake news,” and “I’m a very stable genius.”

Creator Don Lessem, a Philadelphia-based anti-Trump campaigner, paid around £20,000 to have it made in China.

“My goal is to create this year’s attention-getting and bile-producing sequel to the Trump baby balloon, and one that could be more easily deployed at rallies all over the world,” he said last month.

The president does not actually own a solid gold toilet, although he was offered one. A solid 18-carat gold toilet, titled America (2016), by the Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan had been on display at New York’s Guggenheim museum when a curator offered it to the White House. The administration had actually asked to borrow a Van Gogh before receiving the cheeky counter-offer.

Two people who will at least be pleased to see the President on these shores are Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage. “They’re two very good guys, very interesting people,” Mr Trump said this week as he prepared to leave.