TRUMP COULD BE HERE IN FEBRUARY
UK visit WON’T be axed as May hits back at President over far-Right videos
DONALD Trump could visit the UK as soon as February, despite an unprecedented diplomatic row with Theresa May over his promotion of far-Right hate videos.
MPs yesterday called for the ‘racist’ US President to be banned from the UK for re-tweeting anti-Muslim videos from the tiny Britain First group.
Mrs May condemned Mr Trump’s conduct – but she rejected calls to axe plans for a state visit, despite warnings it could embarrass the Queen.
Whitehall sources last night said confidential plans were being drawn up for Mr Trump to make a working visit to London in February. It is understood he would formally open the new US embassy, as part of a wider trip to Europe. It would be more low-key than a full state visit, and the President would not meet the Queen.
But ministers are braced for massive public protests in the wake of Mr Trump’s latest intervention.
And Mrs May said the offer of a full state visit, when Mr Trump would be hosted by the Queen, remained in place, although no date has been set for it.
Downing Street criticised Mr Trump on Wednesday after he retweeted the Britain First videos to his 44 million followers. Yesterday the President, whose election slogan was Put America First, gave an extraordinarily undiplomatic response, writing on Twitter: ‘ Theresa May, don’t focus on me, focus on the destructive Radical Islamic Terrorism that is taking place within the United Kingdom.’
Mrs May hit back, saying: ‘The fact we work together does not mean we are afraid to say when we think the United States have got it wrong ... I’m very clear that retweeting from Britain First was the wrong thing to do.’
But she was careful not to escalate the row further, stressing the importance of the ‘special relationship’ with the US. Speaking in Amman, where she held talks with the King of Jordan, she said: ‘This is a long term special relationship, it’s an enduring relationship that is there because it is in both our national interests.’
She also condemned Britain First as a ‘hateful’ group that ‘seeks to spread division and mistrust among our communities’.
As the diplomatic row deepened, both Britain’s ambassador to the US and America’s ambassador to the UK vowed to raise concerns with the White House.
Communities Secretary Sajid Javid, the first male Asian Cabinet minister, wrote on Twitter that Mr Trump had ‘endorsed the views of a vile, hate-filled racist organisation that hates me and people like me’. Shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry said the offer of a state visit ‘put the Queen in a very invidious position’.
There was also fury in the Commons yesterday, with many calling for the state visit to be cancelled. Labour’s Paul Flynn said the President should be ‘charged with inciting racial hatred’ if he came to the UK, while Naz Shah said he should be banned from the country for promoting ‘the hate-filled ideology of fascism’.
Yvette Cooper, also Labour, said Britain could not ‘simply roll out a red carpet and give a platform for the President (to) sow discord in our communities’, while Labour’s Barry Sheerman said there would be ‘unparalleled demonstrations’ if he came.
Tory MP Peter Bone told the Commons the ‘world would be a better place’ if Mr Trump deleted his Twitter account.
Home Secretary Amber Rudd replied: ‘I’m sure many of us might share his view.’ But she urged MPs to remember the importance of the US-UK bond.
Miss Rudd yesterday also faced calls to outlaw Britain First. The row led to a surge in publicity for the group. Deputy leader Jayda Fransen, who has a conviction for hate crime, gained 30,000 Twitter followers yesterday.
LET’S get two things straight. Donald Trump is a narcissistic, absurd figure. Many of the things he’s said are deplorable and his brand of Twitter diplomacy is crass and profoundly irresponsible.
And Britain First – the far-Right group whose anti-Islamic videos the President retweeted earlier this week – is a loathsome organisation dedicated to sowing hatred and division in our society.
But the storm of sanctimonious protest by British politicians over Mr Trump’s latest indiscretion – described by the Mail’s sketch writer Quentin Letts as ‘the Outrage Olympics’ – has spiralled out of all proportion.
Lib Dem leader Sir Vince Cable called him ‘an evil racist’. Commons Speaker John Bercow praised MPs for supporting ‘victims of racism and bigotry’. Two Labour MPs even said Mr Trump should be arrested.
Whatever they think of him, this man is the elected leader of a nation which has been our staunchest ally for a century. Through two world wars, its countrymen fought and died beside ours in the name of freedom and America remains the world’s most powerful guardian of democracy. It’s also our most important trading partner.
So this outpouring of virtue- signalling and self-righteousness is not just hysterical – it risks seriously damaging the national interest.
Inevitably the Left, which of course hates America, is now demanding that Mr Trump’s planned state visit to Britain should be cancelled. Compare and contrast this to the lavish pomp and ceremony with which President Macron entertained Mr Trump when he visited Paris a few months ago – and with barely a shoulder being shrugged by the pragmatic French.
Labour warns a visit here would provoke ‘ unparalleled demonstrations’ and embarrass the Queen.
This, by the way, is the same Queen who has broken bread on state visits with the Romanian mass murderer Nicolae Ceausescu, Zimbabwean tyrant Robert Mugabe, Zaire’s kleptocratic Mobutu Sese Seko and Syria’s blood-soaked president Assad – not to mention Vladimir Putin. Mr Trump is a saint compared with these men.
No, Her Majesty will recognise that this visit is not about endorsing Mr Trump’s politics, or condoning his risible tweets.
It’s about honouring the great and hugely important ally he represents – one that will be more vital than ever after Brexit.