Arron Banks denied entry to US for his own Donald Trump inauguration party

Arron Banks, the former UKIP donor and businessman who co-founded the Brexit campaign group Leave.EU with Reform UK’s Richard Tice, will be unable to celebrate Donald Trump’s inauguration at his own party in the US next week, as he’s been denied entry by immigration officials.

Banks was pictured with Trump – as well as Reform UK leader Nigel Farage and Leave campaigner Andy Wigmore – back in 2016, not long after the Republican secured his first term as US president.

But when it comes to the Republican’s second inauguration and all the events surrounding it, Banks won’t be able to attend the £150,000 “Stars and Stripes and Union Jack Party” party he organised, because his electronic travel authorisation (more commonly known as an Esta) was rejected, reports The Times.

Wigmore also had his application rejected.

In a statement to the newspaper, Banks claimed the refusal was a “political decision” and “revenge for the failed Russia Hoax perpetrated on both sides of the Atlantic” – that being investigations and concerns about alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.

He said: “President Trump was the victim of the Russia Hoax in the US and I know better than most what that felt like.

“I was accused of Russian collusion in the Brexit campaign, investigated and cleared by the National Crime Agency. I sued the journalist [Carole Cadwalladr of The Observer] that made these fake claims and won damages and costs in the London High Courts … My businesses were de-banked and attacked by vicious opponents during this period – all for supporting Brexit and President Trump.”

Taking place on Friday on the rooftop of Washington’s Hay-Adams Hotel, attendees include shortest-serving prime minister Liz Truss, Reform UK treasurer Nick Candy, and Farage – the latter being the guest of honour.

Invitees include Trump himself; Twitter/X owner and soon-to-be co-leader of the Department of Government Efficiency, Elon Musk; and former Trump strategist and Breitbart co-founder Steve Bannon.

Referencing migrants crossing the US-Mexico border, Banks added: “With my visa blocked, I guess Andy and myself will have to cross the Rio Grande from Mexico into the US, along with the hundreds of thousands of gang members and bad hombres on the border, and claim our free hotel room and mobile phone in DC when we arrived.”

And the unfortunate outcome for the businessman has seen him mocked by many users on Twitter/X:

One brutal response suggested Truss might have been behind Banks and Wigmore’s applications:

Farage has also commented on the news, describing the decision by immigration services as “astonishing”:

A US embassy spokesman told The Times it cannot discuss details of “specific visa cases” due to visa records being confidential under US law.

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