Business chiefs dump Trump in neo-Nazi row

… and MPs call for President’s state visit to UK to be scrapped

DONALD Trump faced a deepening backlash yesterday over his reaction to the far-Right violence in Charlottesville.

The President was forced to disband two White House business panels when a string of chief executives quit in protest.

Meanwhile, Theresa May has faced calls to postpone or even cancel the President’s state visit to Britain.

The row comes over Mr Trump’ insistence that both neo-Nazis and antifascists are equally to blame for riots in Virginia that culminated with a white supremacist killing a woman and injuring around 20 other people by driving a car into a crowd.

In the US, Mr Trump came under fire from his own party – with former Repub- lican presidents George W Bush and his father George HW Bush saying Americans ‘must always reject racial bigotry, anti-Semitism and hatred in all forms’.

Mr Trump had been criticised for initially saying there had been blame on ‘many sides’ of the clashes in Virginia before belatedly condemning far-Right groups two days later.

However, on Tuesday he backtracked during a rancorous news conference and insisted there had been ‘ very fine people’ on both sides – comments welcomed by exKu Klux Klan leader David Duke.

There were resignations in the manufacturing and strategy groups – part of Mr Trump’s push to transform the economy – with heads of computer firm Intel, sportswear business Under Armour and drug-maker Merck quitting.

The President had claimed that for each CEO who resigned he had ‘many to take their place’.

But following his comments on Tuesday more bosses left, as well as union leaders, and Mr Trump was forced to axe the groups.

He was also condemned by JP Morgan boss Jamie Dimon. The banker welcomed the decision to shut the panels down, telling his staff in a memo: ‘There is no room for equivocation here: the evil on display by these perpetrators of hate should be condemned and has no place in a country that draws strength from our diversity and humanity.

‘Constructive economic and regulatory policies are not enough and will not matter if we do not address the divisions in our country. It is a leader’s role, in business or government, to bring people together, not tear them apart.’

In the UK, Mrs May led condemnation of Mr Trump – saying there was ‘no equivalence’ between ‘those who propound fascist views and those who oppose them’. She added: ‘I think it is important for all those in positions of responsibility to condemn far-Right views wherever we hear them.’

Scottish Tories leader Ruth Dav- idson said: ‘The President of the United States has just turned his face to the world to defend Nazis, fascists and racists. For shame.’

Opposition MPs lined up to insist next year’s state visit should be stopped. Mr Trump had been invited to Britain soon after he took office, but the visit was postponed until 2018 amid concerns in the White House about protests.

Tory MP Crispin Blunt, former chairman of the foreign affairs committee, said the trip should now be put back until 2020 – after the next US presidential election.

He told Radio 4’s The World At One: ‘I think that’s the right way forward out of what is undoubtedly going to be a very difficult situation and very probably a very big public order problem as well.’

But Lib Dem leader Sir Vince Cable said: ‘Donald Trump has shown he is unable to detach himself from the extreme Right and racial supremacists. It would be completely wrong to have this man visit the UK on a state visit.’ And Labour’s defence spokesman Nia Griffith said a state visit ‘would shame this country and betray all we stand for’.

No 10 sources insisted there was no change to the planned visit. Violence broke out in Charlottesville on Saturday after far-Right extremists protested the removal of a statue of a Confederate general. Anti- fascist protester Heather Heyer, 32, was killed.

Barack Obama’s online post condemning the Charlottesville violence – with a Nelson Mandela quote – is now the most popular tweet ever, with 3million users ‘liking’ the ex-president’s message.

‘The evil on display should be condemned’ ‘It would shame this country’