Why Trump's helicopter was forced to make emergency landing as President and First Lady make way back to United States
Donald Trump's historic second state visit to the UK might have been a success, according to Keir Starmer, but it certainly wasn't without incident.
Upon arrival on Tuesday evening, the 79-year-old was greeted with photos of himself with Jeffrey Epstein, while Prince Andrew and Virginia Giuffre also featured on the images which were projected onto Windsor Castle, leading to four arrests.
The president also managed to break royal protocol for the second time, having already done so on his first state visit when he met with Queen Elizabeth II, while a bizarre comment during his speech at the State Banquet also left plenty of people confused.
However, it was through no fault of his own that Trump and Melania found themselves grounded after their helicopter ran into some issues on the way to Stansted Airport yesterday (18 September) , as he prepares to return to the US ahead of the funeral of Charlie Kirk this Sunday.
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After Trump finished a press conference with the prime minister at Cheqeuers, he boarded Marine One, but was forced to divert to Luton Airport, giving him perhaps his first look at what Britain is really like, after running into problems in the air.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that the helicopter had landed “out of an abundance of caution”.
In a statement, Ms Leavitt said: "Due to a minor hydraulic issue, and out of an abundance of caution, the pilots landed at a local airfield before reaching Stansted airport.
"The president and first lady safely boarded the support helicopter.
"The president and first lady were later able to board Air Force One for the return journey from the UK."
After arriving at Stansted only around 20 minutes later than planned, Trump clearly saw the funny side, as he made another one of his unusual jokes to reporters, where everyone laughs but nobody really knows what's going on.
He said: “Fly safely. You know why I say that? Because I’m on the flight. I want to get home, otherwise I wouldn’t care."
There was no time to waste for the president and shortly after touching down, he was already delivering a press conference about the success of the UK trip, while also doubling down on his criticism of TV host Jimmy Kimmel, who was suspended in the wake of his comments about Charlie Kirk's alleged shooter Tyler Robinson earlier this week.
Meanwhile, Starmer praised the work that was done at Chequers as the two countries renewed their special relationship after sorting out a billion-dollar technology deal.
Starmer said: "We've renewed the special relationship for a new era.
"This partnership today is a signal of our determination to win this race together and to ensure it brings real benefits in jobs, in growth, in lower bills, to put more hard-earned cash in people's pockets at the end of each month."
Topics: Donald Trump, Keir Starmer, Jimmy Kimmel, Charlie Kirk
James Moorhouse