The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
May’s rebuke for Trump as transatlantic row deepens
Confronting far-right as important as fighting Islamist threat, says PM
Theresa May has said countering the far-right is just as important as dealing with the Islamist threat amid a deepening transatlantic row with Donald Trump over extremism.
The Prime Minister reiterated Mr Trump had been “wrong” to share inflammatory anti-Muslim videos posted online by the deputy leader of the far-right Britain First group, Jayda Fransen.
However she rejected the growing clamour to call off the president’s controversial state visit insisting she remained committed to the “special relationship” between the UK and US.
The extraordinary flare-up between the two key allies came after Mr Trump responded directly to her assertion – originally made through her official spokesman – that his repostings had been wrong.
In a trademark late night tweet, he wrote: “@Theresa-May, don’t focus on me, focus on the destructive Radical Islamic Terrorism that is taking place within the United Kingdom. We are doing just fine!”
His comments provoked an outcry in Parliament with MPs demanding the cancellation of the state visit and calls for the president to apologise to the British people.
Mrs May, in Jordan on the final day of an official visit to the Middle East, condemned Britain First as a “hateful organisation” dedicated to spreading division and mistrust.
In pointed remarks, apparently aimed at Mr Trump, she said it was essential to deal with terrorism and extremism “from whatever source they come”.
Asked whether she regarded the president as a “supporter and enabler” of far-right groups, Mrs May said: “We must all take seriously the threat that far-right groups pose both in terms of the terrorist threat that is posed by those groups and the necessity of dealing with extremist material which is far-right as well.
“I’ve commented in the past on issues in the United States on this matter. In the United Kingdom we take the far-right very seriously and that’s why we ensure we deal with these threats and this extremism wherever it comes and whatever its source.”
In a further sign of the seriousness of the row, Britain’s ambassador to Washington, Sir Kim Darroch, said he had raised the Government’s concerns with the White House on Wednesday.