Executives of Barclays and the British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline are among those invited to a breakfast meeting between Donald Trump and senior business leaders.
About 10 executives have been asked to attend the gathering on Tuesday at St James’s Palace in central London, making it a much smaller affair than the business leaders’ banquet at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire that attracted about 150 guests during Trump’s visit to the UK last year.
The meeting, which is expected to last about an hour, will be hosted by the US president and Theresa May, sources told the Guardian. Ivanka Trump and the Duke of York will also be attending.
Invites were extended to an equal number of US and UK businesses, across a range of sectors including defence, banking and pharmaceuticals. The meeting is expected to focus on the importance of collaboration between companies on both sides of the Atlantic.
Among the business leaders expected to attend are the BAE Systems chairman, Sir Roger Carr, National Grid’s chief executive, John Pettigrew, GSK’s Emma Walmsley and Jes Staley of Barclays. Rakesh Kapoor, the outgoing chief executive of the consumer goods company Reckitt Benckiser, is also on the list.
US business leaders are expected to include the Lockheed Martin chief executive, Marillyn Hewson, and the head of Estée Lauder UK and Ireland, Philippe Warnery. Richard Timperlake, the vice-president for European sales at the software company Splunk, has also been invited.
The chief executive of Fidelity Investments, Abigail Johnson, was on the list, but she is understood to be staying in the US.
Sky News reported last week that JP Morgan’s chief executive and chairman, Jamie Dimon, was thought to be among those invited. However, the Guardian understands the bank’s head of Europe, Middle East and Africa, Vis Raghavan, will be taking his place owing to scheduling and logistical issues.
