Yes, he’s flawed and his tweets are asinine, but to stop Trump coming here would be a terrible act of self-harm

Many of Donald Trump’s opinions are objectionable, and his asinine bedtime tweets are not the ideal way to conduct politics, but the fact is that he is President of the country that is Britain’s greatest ally.

So, when the leader of the free world has been invited to make a visit to this country, whether it be a full state visit at the invitation of the Queen or a more scaled-down working trip, we as a nation have a duty to respect his status.

you don’t have to be a fullblooded believer in the ‘special relationship’ which binds Britain to america to recognise the profound importance of the U.S. to the health of our economy, national security and living standards.

Frothing

yet, predictably, we are witnessing a sanctimonious protest by Trump’s critics here on the Left who seem to be frothing at the mouth in anger and preparing ‘mass protests’ if and when he visits.

Typically, London mayor Sadiq Khan, ignoring the enormous contribution which the U.S. makes to the economy and safety of our capital city, pompously declares ‘an official visit here would not be welcome’.

True, Trump’s misogyny, his sometimes manic tweets (particularly his recent retweet of anti-Islamic videos by the odious far-Right group Britain First) and his attacks on news organisations do not endear him to the liberal elites in the United States or our own weaker-minded politicians.

as someone who looked on with horror at the divisive and deadly race riots in Charlottesville in august, which Trump declined to condemn, I cannot say I view Trump with any equanimity. The so called alt Right, with its apparent support of white nationalism, is wholly abhorrent.

But what can never be ignored is that, for all his faults, Trump is the elected President of the United States. Crucially, the significance of Britain’s relationship with the U.S. looms even larger as this country, in the run-up to Brexit, looks to strike new trade arrangements. It would be an act of self-harm, indeed insanity, to reject a visit by Trump because of a few of this narcissist’s ill-judged comments and indiscretions.

What is unsaid by those who would bar Trump is that the americans are our kith and kin, who fought beside us in two world wars in defence of freedom. Their soldiers lie buried alongside our own in the killing fields of Flanders and of normandy.

This sacred bond was recognised when Trump joined President Macron of France in July to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the U.S.’s entry into World War I.

Much further back in history, the French may have allied with america when it secured independence from Britain, but our present ties with the U.S. are infinitely closer.

among those voices trying to ban Trump are Lib Dem leader Sir Vince Cable, who has called him ‘an evil racist’. and during the recent debate in Westminster over Trump’s endorsement of Britain First, Commons Speaker John Bercow praised MPs for supporting ‘victims of racism and bigotry’.

These two men seem blind to america’s importance to our economy. The remaining 27 countries of the EU may, together, continue to be our biggest trading partner, but we should not ignore the fact that our largest single market is the United States.

(On a personal level, too, they seem to have forgotten Trump’s close personal links with this country. His mother, Mary anne MacLeod, was brought up on Lewis before emigrating to new york.)

although we run a huge trade deficit with the EU, the most recent analysis of the UK’s business relationship with america shows we maintain a trade surplus — which means they send more custom our way than vice versa. at the heart of the UK’s ties to the U.S. are the financial institutions based in the City of London.

Brexit notwithstanding, almost all the major american banks — J.P. Morgan, Citibank, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley etc — have their European headquarters in London and employ tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, across Britain.

Similarly, the internet giants Google, apple and amazon are investing heavily in Britain. apple has chosen to locate in Battersea, London, close to the new U.S. Embassy, which americans want Trump to open officially on his visit.

analysis by the Office for national Statistics shows that the U.S. is our biggest export partner, accounting for onefifth of all the goods and services we sell overseas.

More to the point, Britain ran a trade surplus with the U.S. in every single year between 2005 and 2015, at an average of £28.1 billion. Over that ten-year period, america spent £280 billion more with UK companies than our firms spent in the U.S. Most recent data shows that our surplus with the U.S. is just short of £40 billion a year.

Thugs

Famously during his election campaign, Trump expressed huge discontent over what he perceived as unfair competition to american businesses caused by cheap imports from Mexico and China.

as he wrestles with those issues, it would be madness for those perennial malcontents of the British Left — who were happy to allow visits by totalitarian thugs such as Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe — to add to his diplomatic problems.

another key, yet less understood or discussed, aspect of the relationship between London and Washington, is security ties. Clearly visible to anyone travelling into Washington DC’s airport is the huge BAE (British aerospace) emblem adorning a shining tower block, nestled among the big defence firms. Britain’s defence contractors, particularly BAE, are the only non-U.S. firms granted special status by the Pentagon to work on U.S. defence contracts.

as a result of this special relationship, BAE secured a £6 billion contract last week to sell 24 Typhoon fighter jets and associated missiles to Qatar in a deal that secures up to 5,000 jobs in the UK. That was only achieved thanks to the fast-track agreement with the Pentagon.

The truth is that there are much wider opportunities opening up as asian democracies seek to protect themselves from threats by north Korea and guard themselves against Beijing’s ambitions in the South China Sea. For example, the U.S. Defence Department enlisted Britain’s help through BAE to update the advanced avionics on the U.S.’s ageing fleet of F-16 jets, including planes sold to South Korea.

Ruinous

Meanwhile, naive and spittleflecked critics of Trump — and, by extension, critics of the Special Relationship which was cemented more than 70 years ago by Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt to defeat the world’s darkest tyranny — prove they have no understanding of history.

Trump may be deeply flawed but he is far from the first U.S. President to breach the rules of civilised society. John F. Kennedy was a womaniser who unwisely slept with gangsters’ molls. Richard nixon was a rabid anti-Semite who broke the law during Watergate. Bill Clinton had sexual relations with a young intern, Monica Lewinsky, in the Oval Office.

Donald Trump’s behaviour may be extreme and erratic. But when he comes to London and meets Theresa May, it is the office of President and the deep economic and security partnership that will be honoured — not simply the brash and boorish billionaire.

Picking a fight with the leader of the free world is potentially ruinous for Britain’s future at the very moment when we need desperately to underpin and strengthen our global ties.