Theresa May will meet Donald Trump in the White House tomorrow and will prepare the stage today with a speech to senior Republicans in Philadelphia Stefan Wermuth/Reuters

Britain and America will have the opportunity to “lead together again” with renewed confidence after the surprise results of the US election and Brexit vote, Theresa May will say today.

Striking an optimistic tone before becoming the first world leader to meet the new US president, Mrs May will say that Britain is ready to “build relationships with old friends”. She will hail Donald Trump’s election as a moment of “renewal” in which the American people rediscovered their confidence.

Her words come a year after the prime minister described Mr Trump’s campaign rhetoric as “divisive, unhelpful and wrong”. Last night the new president declared that “beginning today the US gets control of its borders” as he ordered a wall to be built to divide the…