Donald Trump has ordered the menu card from his lunch with Theresa May to be preserved as a memento of their meeting.

The Prime Minister was the first world leader to meet the new US President, providing a mutual boost for both leaders.

On the one hand, it shows the UK and US are still close – despite Mr Trump’s controversial policies and statements about women, Mexicans, Muslims, torture and abortion – and this could help Ms May’s negotiations with the European Union over Brexit.

Trump and May hold hands outside the White House

On the other, it helped dispel any suggestion that Mr Trump is a pariah on the world stage, particularly following the cancellation of a visit to the US by Mexico’s President Enrique Pena Nieto.

Giving more details about their meeting, a Downing Street spokeswoman revealed the US President collects menus and was keen to add the one from his lunch with Ms May.

“At the end of the lunch, he said that he always kept menu cards to remember significant moments,” she said.

“He gave the menu card to one of his members of staff and said ‘keep that safe, I had lunch with the British Prime Minister.’”

Mr Trump was then said to have repeated “several times” that it was really important to see Ms May first when he comes to the UK for a state visit.

No 10 compared the relationship to the famously close one between Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan.

“They referred to the time that Thatcher took over Britain and the large challenges that she faced, and agreed that they had a shared admiration for her,” the spokeswoman said.