Nigel Farage could "pick up the phone" and speak to Donald Trump about relations between the US and UK if he wanted to - but he has to focus on building Reform UK, one of his key allies has said.

Gerry Gunster, the founder and chief executive of Washington-based Gunster Strategies Worldwide, told Chopper's Political Podcast that relations between the pair were strong.

His comments come amid speculation that the relationship might have soured after Farage did not witness in person Trump's swearing in Washington in January.

Farage told GB News this week that he had not spoken to Trump since he became President in January as he did not want to cut across formal links between London and Washington.

However Gunster said: "If Nigel Farage wanted to pick up the phone and get hold of the president of the United States, he would do it.

"Nigel is not one of those guys that is going to do something like that unless it is of the utmost importance, because Nigel has a job to do to build this Reform party.

"And the President of the United States, as you can see, has his job to do. I don't think that the fact that there hasn't been any 'talks with each other' means anything."

This week, Christopher Hope is also joined by Labour MP Jake Richards to discuss digital IDs, as well as Rory Cellan-Jones who discusses his battle with Parkinson's.

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