Donald Trump is poised to snub Theresa May for the second time this month after it emerged he has no plans to meet her at next week’s World Economic Forum in Davos. The Prime Minister had been hoping for a “clear the air” meeting with Mr Trump at the Swiss resort after the US president unexpectedly cancelled plans for a visit to Britain.

Presidents and prime ministers do not usually attend the Davos summit, where chancellors and finance ministers take centre stage, but Whitehall sources had previously revealed plans to “engineer an encounter” between Mrs May and Mr Trump after they both announced they would be attending.

However, the White House has been lukewarm on the idea, saying Mr Trump has no time to meet Mrs May, even though he will meet Emmanuel Macron, the French president. Downing Street has now all but given up hope of a meeting taking place.

Rex Tillerson, the US secretary of state, added to the intrigue by claiming Mr Trump had cancelled his visit to Britain because Mrs May needed to “focus on Brexit”. Mr Trump had said he pulled out because of cost overruns on the new US Embassy in London, which he had been due to open.