BRITISH Prime Minister Theresa May invoked wartime leader Winston Churchill and strong transatlantic ties while welcoming Donald Trump as he kicked off his UK tour on Thursday night — hours after he began a protest-laden visit by questioning her Brexit strategy.

Welcoming the American president and First Lady Melania Trump to a black-tie dinner with business leaders at Blenheim Palace, the birthplace of Churchill, Mrs May said the two countries’ “most special of relationships has a long and proud history”.

“Mr President, Sir Winston Churchill once said that ‘to have the United States at our side was, to me, the greatest joy,’” she said.

“Now, for the benefit of all our people, let us work together to build a more prosperous future,” Mrs May added after calling for a free-trade agreement with the US after Britain leaves the European Union next March.

However, the convention-shredding president ignored diplomatic niceties ahead of touching down for the four-day visit — his first to Britain since taking power — by rebuking his beleaguered host as she struggles over Brexit.

At a press conference in Brussels following a NATO summit there just before flying to London, Mr Trump cast doubt on whether Mrs May will deliver on British voters’ intentions when they backed leaving the EU in a 2016 referendum.

“The people voted to break it up (Britain’s ties with the EU),” Mr Trump said.

“So I would imagine that’s what they will do, but maybe they will take a little bit of a different route. I don’t know (if) that is what they voted for.”

Mr Trump arrived at the reception to much pomp and ceremony. On the one hand, the bands of the Scots, Irish and Welsh Guards were playing in his honour and on the other, anti-Trump protesters with critical signs lined the roadway leading to the palace near Oxford.

However, it’s unlikely the Trumps even saw them.

Instead, the couple arrived via helicopter and were driven by presidential limousine onto the property, where they were welcomed by the British Prime Minister and her husband Philip.

The couples then enjoyed a performance by a large British military marching band wearing traditional bearskin hats.

‘THEY LIKE ME’
The president is set to largely avoid mass protests planned for his controversial trip, which includes talks with Mrs May, tea with Queen Elizabeth II and a private weekend in Scotland.

He landed at Stansted Airport on Thursday afternoon and was whisked by helicopter to Winfield House, the American diplomatic residence in London.

At a welcoming garden party, the Beatles track “We can work it out” played in the background.

Mr Trump had earlier shrugged off the organised demonstrations, which on Friday will include a giant baby-shaped balloon bearing the president’s features and has required police to be mobilised from across the country.

“They like me a lot in the UK,” he declared in Brussels.

But it appears the president might be wearing rose-coloured glasses. Some 77 per cent of Britons have an unfavourable view of Mr Trump, according to a poll by YouGov with 1,648 respondents.

Hundreds of placard-waving protesters gathered outside both Winfield House and Blenhein Palace late Thursday, but extensive cordons kept them far from Mr Trump.

“He’s fundamentally damaging the culture, the discourse, the rules, the laws,” said Calah Singleton, a 28-year-old writer who turned out in London.

Meanwhile Amnesty International unveiled a 15-metre banner on Vauxhall bridge opposite the US Embassy branding him a “Human Rights Nightmare”.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan, who signed off on the so-called “Trump Baby” blimp, defended the decision on Thursday, arguing the protests were not anti-American.

“But having a special relationship means that we expect the highest standards from each other, and it also means speaking out when we think the values we hold dear are under threat,” he said.

‘OPPORTUNITY’
Despite a series of diplomatic spats between Britain and Mr Trump, Mrs May is hoping for a quick trade deal with the US after it leaves the EU.

“It’s an opportunity to reach a free-trade agreement that creates jobs and growth here in the UK and right across the United States,” Mrs May told the guests at Blenheim Palace.

She added it was “also an opportunity to tear down the bureaucratic barriers that frustrate business leaders on both sides of the Atlantic”.

But Brexit champion Nigel Farage, a critic of Mrs May’s Brexit plans — formally unveiled in a policy paper on Thursday — predicted there would be “confrontation” on the visit.

“The Americans can’t believe, quite frankly, what a mess we’re making of Brexit,” he told the BBC.

Mrs May weathered the resignations of her Brexit and foreign ministers earlier this week over the proposals.

AWKWARD TIMING
Mr Trump also arrived in Britain after a fraught NATO summit in Brussels where he piled pressure on allies, including Britain, to double their defence spending.

And following his UK visit, he is due for talks in Helsinki on Monday with Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose government Mrs May has accused of unleashing a lethal nerve agent in the city of Salisbury.

Russia has strongly denied the charge.

Mr Trump is due to stay overnight at Winfield House, where demonstrators plan to play recordings of migrant children held in US detention centres.

On Friday, he will hold talks with Mrs May expected to focus on Brexit and Russia, at the prime minister’s Chequers country residence followed by a press conference.

He will then head to Windsor Castle for tea with the queen, as protesters stage a mass demonstration in London.

His next move will be to travel north to Scotland, where he will spend the weekend privately, joined by son Eric Trump.

Mr Trump’s late mother hailed from Scotland, and he owns two luxury golf courses there.