Foreign secretary’s support for US president seen as revealing ambition to be next Tory leader

Jeremy Hunt has come out in favour of Donald Trump being invited to address both Houses of Parliament despite protestations from other politicians about the controversial state visit, as he made a thinly veiled pitch to be the next Conservative leader.

The foreign secretary said it was important to give the US president the “best possible welcome” when he visits in June to attend D-day commemorations.

Trump will face mass protests and Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrat leader, said he would boycott a state banquet to be held in his honour.

However, Hunt said he would support Trump being given the honour of addressing MPs and peers in the Palace of Westminster. The House of Commons Speaker, John Bercow, has previously opposed the move.

The foreign secretary said: “I think that it is very important when you have a state visit by our closest and most important ally that we think of the office as much as the person.

“I hope we make the best possible welcome for President Trump because he is a controversial politician … but in the end his visit is about more than Trump’s policies. It is about the alliance between the United States and the United Kingdom that goes back many, many years and I think the appropriate thing to do is show him the best possible welcome.”

The decision will ultimately lie with Commons authorities about whether to lift the effective ban. In 2017, Bercow said: “Before the migrant ban [imposed by Trump to bar visitors from several Muslim-majority countries], I would myself have been strongly opposed to an address by President Trump in Westminster Hall.

“But after the imposition of the migrant ban by President Trump, I am even more strongly opposed to an address by President Trump in Westminster Hall.

“I feel very strongly that our opposition to racism and sexism and our support for equality before the law and an independent judiciary are hugely important considerations in the House of Commons.”

Hunt has been accused by critics of tacking to the right as he tries to gather support among Conservative MPs and members for an attempt to replace Theresa May as leader when she steps down.

In a speech to journalists in Westminster, he was asked whether he would run to be prime minister and answered: “Wait and see.”

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Hunt used the speech to set out his vision for Britain’s place in the world after leaving the EU, saying “other countries have a whole lot more respect for us than we seem to have for ourselves”.

However, he also warned Britain was in danger of “Brexit paralysis” and said other countries “do worry about the distraction of not being able to make a decision”.

Arguing it was not a barrier to the leadership to have campaigned for remain, Hunt said the UK “has to leave, leave quickly and leave cleanly”, and he would opt for a no-deal departure rather than no Brexit if these were the only choices available.

“I think the democratic risk of no Brexit ultimately is higher than the economic risk of no deal,” he said.

Hunt has assembled a leadership campaign team and is signing up MPs to back him, but he is less popular with Conservative members than his colleagues who originally campaigned for Brexit – Boris Johnson, Dominic Raab and Michael Gove.