Tory leadership hopeful Sajid Javid says being snubbed from Trump state banquet was 'odd'

Sajid Javid has said Downing Street rejected a request from his office to attend the lavish state banquet for Donald Trump at Buckingham Palace.

The home secretary, who is the son of Pakistani Muslim parents, expressed his frustration at being the only holder of a great office of state - which include prime minister, foreign secretary, home secretary and chancellor - who was not invited to the dinner hosted by the Queen.

His omission from the guest list raised eyebrows at the time, as several cabinet ministers such as Michael Gove, the environment secretary and Penny Mordaunt, the defence secretary, were present.

Asked why he was not invited, Mr Javid told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I don't know. I've asked but I was just told that normally home secretaries aren't invited so I don't know."

Pressed on how he felt at the snub, Mr Javid said: "I don't like it for the reason you just said. It is odd. My office did ask No 10 and they said no, so you would have to ask No 10 why they made that decision."

The Tory leadership hopeful disagreed with suggestions that he was missed off the list due to his Muslim background, saying: "No, I am not saying that at all. I really don't know."

Mr Javid did meet the American president during the D-Day commemorations in Portsmouth on the final day of his visit.

Plenty of senior politicians attended the opulent dinner earlier this month, including Theresa May and her husband Philip, de-facto deputy PM David Lidington, Philip Hammond, the chancellor, and international trade secretary Liam Fox.

Mr Javid's snub may have been linked to his criticism of the US president for endorsing the views of far-right organisation Britain First in 2017.

The guest list for the state banquet was determined by Buckingham Palace, with input from the government and also from the American embassy.

A Downing Street spokesperson said at the time: "The invitations to the state banquet were organised and led by Buckingham Palace."

It comes as at least one of the Tory leadership hopefuls was expected to be dropped from the race as MPs will vote in the first ballot on Thursday.

Candidates must secure at least 17 votes to go through to the second round - but if all the hopefuls meet this target, the one with the lowest votes overall will be booted out.

Mr Javid, who launched his campaign yesterday, is expected to make it through the first ballot but he is among candidates struggling to catch the frontrunner, Boris Johnson.

Despite branding Mr Johnson as "yesterday's news" during his campaign launch, Mr Javid said he would serve in a cabinet run by the former foreign secretary.

He said: "I said yesterday that we are lucky to have lots of talented candidates and I would serve under any of them if they wanted me, because we will have gone through this exercise, the party will have picked the next leader, and I think it is our duty."