CLOSER THAN MAGGIE& RON
“People said, ‘Never again’. Well, we’re doing it again.”
Two Iraqi refugees targeted by terrorists for aiding American troops were on their way to safety in the US when the order was signed on Friday and were detained in New York.
One, Haneed Khalid Darweesh, had risked his life working as a US Army interpreter. The other, Haider Sameer Alshawi, also helped US military.
Mr Darweesh is understood to have been freed from detention last night but it was unclear if he will be allowed to stay. The National Immigration Law Centre said it was suing Mr Trump.
Mrs May ducked questions on wheth- er she agreed with Mr Trump’s policy at a press conference in Ankara, Turkey, yesterday. Two days earlier she said she was not afraid to stand up to him.
She looked on stony-faced as Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, standing alongside her, slammed the US refugee ban.
Pointing out the his country has taken in many refugees, he added: “Nobody leaves their homes for nothing. They came to save their lives and our doors were open. If someone is in need you give them a helping hand.”
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said: “President Trump’s executive order against refugees and Muslims should DONALD Trump sat down to lunch with Theresa May at the White House and told her: “I want us to be closer than Reagan and Thatcher.”
And while tucking in to braised beef and iceberg salad, he said he wants to meet Mrs May again even before he sees the Queen this summer.
A No10 source said Mr Trump told Mrs May: “When I come to the UK, I want to see you first. They talked of Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan. Trump said he wanted their relationship to be even better.”
The President took a menu card as a memento. The source said: “The conversation was warm, free-flowing, unscripted. He said he always keeps menus to remember significant moments. He gave it to one of his staff and said ‘Keep that safe, I just had lunch with the British Prime Minister’.” Earlier Mr Trump had grabbed the PM’s hand and strolled with her.
A spokeswoman for Mrs May said he offered his hand in a “chivalrous” gesture as they walked down “an unseen shock and appal us. Theresa May should have stood up for Britain and our values by condemning his actions.”
Yvette Cooper MP described Mrs May’s failure to speak out as “shocking”. She added: “Her silence shames Britain.”
Former Labour leader Ed Miliband, whose father was a refugee from the Nazis, added: “The PM’s refusal to condemn Trump’s Muslim ban flies in the face of the values of people across Britain. Silence is complicity.”
The diplomatic row escalated last night when Iran said it will ban all US citizens from entering the country. ramp”. The two leaders also agreed to start trade talks even though EU rules prevent a deal until after Brexit. Full details of the love-in emerged as Mrs May was in Ankara to meet Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Labour’s Andrew Gwynne said Mrs May was a “lovedup lapdog” and said of her and Trump: “Not so much a match made from dreams but the stuff of garish nightmares.”