LONDON, July 30. /TASS/. The positions of the United States and the United Kingdom on major issues are converging, but British society dislikes US President Donald Trump, former diplomat Tony Brenton commented on the July 28 talks between British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Trump.

"Actually, the big issues seem to be going reasonably well at the moment. We have three big issues which are tariffs imposed on the UK, the US attitude to the Ukraine war and the attitude to what Israel is doing in Gaza," Brenton, who served as a British ambassador to Moscow in 2004-2008, told TASS.

"The problem is that the British public does not have a very high opinion of Mr. Trump and that would have to be handled particularly in the context of the state visit when it happens in August."

The second state visit of the US President to the United Kingdom will take place from September 17-19. Earlier, several British deputies opposed Trump being given the opportunity to speak in parliament, a normal practice during state visits. However, the dates of the trip preclude this problem, since on September 16, deputies of the House of Commons, the lower house of parliament, will go on vacation for almost a month for party conferences.

According to a survey published in early July by the YouGov polling company, Trump ranks 18th in the list of the most popular foreign politicians in the UK. 16% of 1,500 British respondents have a positive attitude towards him, and 70% have a negative attitude. 57% of respondents believe he is a terrible president, 13% consider him bad, and 11% consider him average (data for mid-June). They are opposed by 4% of respondents who believe that Trump is a great president, and 9% of respondents who believe that he is doing a good job.

Another poll conducted in mid-July among 5,500 Britons showed that 44% of them are in favor of canceling the state visit and 40% believe that it should take place.