Today marks the first day of US President Donald Trump's three-day visit to the UK. Ahead of arriving at Stansted airport this morning, the US head of state kicked it all off in his tradition by calling London mayor Sadiq Khan a "stone cold loser." Ouch.
His itinerary has included a ceremonial welcome at Buckingham Palace, an event at Westminster Abbey, and tea with the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall. A very British welcome.
Elsewhere, other Brits like student and environmental activist Ollie Nancarrow, are welcoming Trump in their own signature style. Nancarrow, who spent the day doing his A-level exams, left a message for Trump in a field directly under a flight path into Stansted airport. Along with a penis, Ollie wrote: "Climate change is real."
Guess who's been busy today mowing a stiff message for Trump under the Stansted flightpath... Please share and let's see how far we can spread the welcome! #climatechange #Trump #welcometrump
The anti-Brexit campaigners known as Led by Donkeys decided to welcome the tycoon turned politician with a combination of treats including billboards.
I'm loving these random billboards in Greenwhich! #LedByDonkeys @ByDonkeys
The group projected Trump’s popularity rating of 21% according to YouGov on the Tower of London. The figure was placed side by side with those of his predecessor, Barack Obama, who polled at 72%.
Hi @realDonaldTrump. Just so you know, you’re wildly unpopular here in Britain. SAD! People REALLY don’t like you (though they love @BarackObama). Hope you like seeing your FAILING approval numbers projected onto the Tower of London. #TrumpUKvisit
The group told BuzzFeed News, "Brexit cheerleader Trump travels in a security bubble, but he also operates in a mental bubble. He’s not told what people really think about him and gets most of his information from Twitter.
"So to disabuse him of any notion that he’s popular here we’ve put up projections and billboards giving him the unvarnished truth."
Hey @realDonaldTrump, we read the story about the sailors on a US warship being ordered to hide from you because you’re triggered by the name on their hats. So we turned Madame Tussaud's into a giant USS John McCain baseball cap. Welcome to London!
And to top it all off, the group made sure to pull the receipts on Trump's supposed ally and Conservative party leader hopeful Boris Johnson with a projection on the Elizabeth tower, the building surrounding Big Ben.
Hey @realDonaldTrump, you just endorsed your Brexit buddy @BorisJohnson but he said some VERY NASTY things about you and he doesn’t want you to know. So we projected his words onto Big Ben. Watch with the SOUND ON #TrumpUKVisit
Despite Trump's public support for Johnson's bid to be leader, the 2015 clip suggests that the feeling certainly wasn't mutual, at least not back then.
Johnson told the interviewer: "When Donald Trump says that there are parts of London that are no-go areas, I think he's betraying a quite stupefying ignorance that makes him, frankly, unfit to hold the office of president of the United States.
"I would invite him to come and see the whole of London and take him round the city except that I wouldn't want London to any unnecessary risk of meeting Donald Trump."
In the south-east of England, the team behind the infamous Trump baby balloon revived their inflatable mascot as a projection on the side of cliffs in Dover.
Guess who's been shining bright orange onto the white cliffs of Dover this morning folks? Extremely attractive and beautiful ME. I’m gonna be YUGE in the UK this week but ya gotta donate to the crowdfunder first... https://t.co/xOrAyQiFVC Thanks for the projection @x_feral
Organisers have made plans to fly their inflatable mascot over London once again following an outpour of public support and a crowd fundraiser for marginalised groups which surpassed it's target of £30,000. In a statement to BuzzFeed News, Matt Bonner, one of the creators of the Trump Baby, said:
“Trump is coming to Britain to commemorate the defeat of fascism after D-day while at the very same time pursuing a dangerous far-right agenda and fanning the flames of hatred. We lit up the White Cliffs of Dover this weekend to send a message to the world: Trump and his politics of hatred and division are not welcome here.”
Organisers plan to fly the 20ft blimp above Parliament Square on Tuesday morning.
A replica of the blimp did however make an appearance on British television as a studio guest on the BBC's Victoria Derbyshire program.
I can’t believe this is real.
A spokesperson for the BBC told Mail Online that it decided to feature the inflatable prop as part of the segment for illustrative purposes. The spokesperson said: "We featured a smaller version of the blimp in the studio to illustrate the protests due to take place and highlight one of the points of controversy about whether the blimp should be allowed to fly.
"It appeared as part of an interview with protestor Anna Vickerstaff who is one of the organisers behind the blimp and Daniel Mcelhinney from Trump UK, a group of people who support the president. Given the widespread protests across the UK at Trump's state visit, it's appropriate to be covering this topic."
Needless to say, we doubt the US President will be pleased or able to enjoy this evenings scheduled state banquet because as I type, activists from the Stop Trump Coallition are preparing to disrupt the occasion with the first of two demonstrations.
When Trump visited the UK last summer, an estimated quarter of a million people marched through London in opposition to his presidency. Activists have expressed worries that British politics may have distracted many people but they are hard at work mobilising allies.
CORRECTION
Stansted airport was misspelled in an earlier version of this post.