Gov. Chris Christie will make his third foreign trip since September when he travels to United Kingdom next month, venturing abroad as he prepares for what many consider a likely presidential bid.
The trip, scheduled for Feb. 1-3, will include stops in London and Cambridge, where the New Jersey Republican will meet with business leaders and government officials.
It’s being billed as an “opportunity to strengthen economic and cultural ties between the United Kingdom and New Jersey while pursuing real opportunities in the life sciences and finance sectors,” according to Maria Comella, Christie’s deputy chief of staff for communications and planning.
Christie traveled to Mexico in September and to Canada in December, where he made energy policy a big priority.
“As with all of his previous trips, this is a way for Gov. Christie to not just help grow New Jersey, but really listen and learn,” Comella said.
More details are still being worked out, but the governor is not scheduled to meet with the Queen or Prince Harry, the latter of whom toured recovered areas from Superstorm Sandy with Christie last year.
News of the trip comes as Christie carries out a busy swing in the Washington-Maryland area. Before he attends Larry Hogan’s inauguration ceremony Wednesday in Annapolis, Maryland, the New Jersey governor will huddle with a group of House Republicans for an informal meet and greet.
The private event, which takes places in the Capitol Hill area early Wednesday morning, is hosted by Rep. Candice Miller of Michigan and Rep. Patrick Meehan of Pennsylvania.
According to her spokeswoman, Miller feels that Christie is an “incredible leader” and she organized Wednesday’s event to get his “insight on the future of the party.”
While it’s early in the Republican presidential race, Miller thinks Christie has proven that he can govern well, especially in a blue state.
Miller was also involved in arranging for Christie to speak to newly elected House Republicans back in November.
On Tuesday, Christie was in Northern Virginia just outside of Washington to meet with members of the local technology community at a lunch personally organized by GOP donor Bobbie Kilberg.
Kilberg stressed that the event was not a fundraiser, but rather a roundtable discussion on how the technology sector affects the economy. Christie spoke for about 15-20 minutes, she said, followed by a “really good and robust” discussion with the group.
About 80 of the 92 attendees were CEOs or presidents of companies or organizations, including the presidents of the University of Virginia, George Washington University, Virginia Tech and Marymount University.
She and Christie are friends, Kilberg said, and they’ve been talking about having such a meeting on technology since September, but due to the governor’s busy travel schedule as chairman of the Republican Governors Association, the governor wasn’t available until this month.
“So that is why it is set for now,” Kilberg said. “People ought to not read into it.”
Separately, she said an organization that she leads — the Northern Virginia Technology Council — will co-host a leadership series starting in April with the Consumer Electronics Association for individuals seriously considering a presidential run.
Christie said last week in a radio interview that he hasn’t made a final decision yet on whether to run for president. His allies and supporters are building a leadership political action committee that will help him travel around the country in the early stages of a presidential campaign.
The governor said he’s urging his supporters to “relax” and that the quickened 2016 campaign season has not affected his planning.
“‘I’m not going to allow other people to dictate to me my time frame,” he said.
