Downing Street has strenuously denied its refusal to invite the home secretary, Sajid Javid, to Donald Trump’s state banquet was Islamophobic. Asked by the BBC Radio 4 Today programme on Thursday why he thought he was not invited, Javid said: “I don’t know. “But as with any state banquet, only a limited number of places are available to the government. The Court Circular records she was a guest at the state banquet held in honour of the king of Spain in July 2017. The former home secretary Jacqui Smith said she was invited to every state banquet during her two years in the post.

Source: The Guardian June 13, 2019 08:39 UTC