Corbyn snubbed but Tories queue for talks
MAKING THEIR VIEWS FELT Protesters against Trump gather in Trafalgar Square DONALD Trump refused to meet Jeremy Corbyn – despite lining up a host of Tories for private audiences.
His snub came as the Labour leader joined protesters yards from where Trump was meeting Theresa May in No10.
Moments after Corbyn addressed the Whitehall rally, Trump revealed he had turned down a plea to see Corbyn.
The president told a press conference: “I don’t know Jeremy Corbyn, never met him, never spoke to him. He wanted to meet today or tomorrow and I decided that I would not do that. I think that he is somewhat of a negative force.
“I think people should look to do things correctly as opposed to criticise. I don’t like critics as much as I like and respect people that get things done.”
A Labour spokeswoman said: “Jeremy is ready to engage on a range of issues, including the climate emergency, threats to peace and the refugee crisis.”
But behind the scenes, Labour insiders questioned the wisdom of leaving Trump to announce the meeting request, rather setting the narrative himself. Labour refused to say when the Corbyn didn‘t meet Trump Anti-Trump campaigners wave placards in Glasgow, left, and Edinburgh request was lodged with White House officials, but Corbyn snubbed a State Banquet at Buckingham Palace on Monday night. He told protesters: “I am not, absolutely not, refusing to meet anybody. I want to be able to have that dialogue to bring about the better and more peaceful world that we all want to live in.” Last night, organisers of the anti-Trump protests claimed 75,000 demonstrated in London, not the 250,000 predicted. The Met couldn’t confirm the number. Women dressed as handmaids from Channel 4’s dystopian series The Handmaid’s Tale marched from Trafalgar Square and a samba band played as demonstrators in Hazmat suits handed out face-masks to “protect people” from Trump’s “toxic views”. Chants of “Donald Trump go home!” echoed around Westminster. A 16ft Trump robot sitting on a gold toilet was stationed in Whitehall and a 20ft “baby blimp” of the president flew for two hours in Parliament Square. There were protests across the UK but dismissing them as “fake news”, the president said: “We left the Prime Minister, the Queen, the Royal Family – there were thousands cheering.” DONALD Trump “smashed one of the most sacred conventions of diplomacy” by cosying up to Brexit Party chief Nigel Farage.
The president was accused of meddling in our politics and snubbing our PM by seeing Farage and hardline Tories Iain Duncan Smith and Owen Paterson.
And while standing next to Theresa May he said the favourite to replace her, Boris Johnson, would make a “very good” PM.
Ex-ambassador to Washington Sir Christopher Meyer said: “Trump needs to be very careful.
“He has smashed one of the most sacred conventions of diplomacy — that a head of state does not interfere in the internal affairs of the country he or she is visiting.”
Farage was photographed arriving in the back of a blackedBY