Donald Trump's state visit will be a "great success", Boris Johnson has claimed, as he was warned by a senior Tory MP it could act as a "rallying point for every discontent" in the UK.
Crispin Blunt, the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee, urged the Foreign Secretary to consider pushing the US president's state visit back to 2020, but Mr Johnson said the invitation had already been issued and accepted.
Meanwhile, Mr Johnson revealed to MPs he was once mistaken for Mr Trump in Newcastle.
Mr Johnson faced questions in the Commons about the Trump administration a matter of days after his first meeting with US secretary of state Rex Tillerson during the G20 summit in Bonn.
Mr Blunt asked: "In your discussions with the American secretary of state, did you discuss the best opportunity to mark a state visit by President Trump and did you put in my suggestion that 2020, the 400th anniversary of the Pilgrim Fathers, would be a much better date for a state visit than in the course of the next few months when it is likely to be a rallying point for every discontent in the United Kingdom?"
Mr Johnson said Mr Blunt's suggestion was "interesting" but had not been raised with Mr Tillerson.
Mr Johnson said during Foreign Office questions: "It's not one, I'm afraid to say, that I had time to make to our American counterparts.
"Let us see how the matter of the state visit evolves.
"The invitation has been issued, it has been accepted.
"I'm sure it will be a great success."
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