Shami in row over ‘appeasing’ warning
LABOUR peer Baroness Chakrabarti sparked a row today by warning against “appeasing” Donald Trump.
The shadow attorney general criticised Theresa May for not taking a more robust stance against his travel restrictions on refugees and citizens from Muslim-majority countries.
“The world is in a very precarious situation and we will not make it safer by appeasing bullies like Mr Trump,” she said. But Mike Freer, Tory MP for Finchley and Golders Green, rebuked her for the comment, given its echoes of condemnation of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain’s policy towards Nazi Germany. He said: “It just shows Labour being fast and loose in the language they use, so close to Holocaust Memorial Day.”
He branded Mr Trump’s travel restrictions as “stupid” but said: “Quiet, private chiding seems to work. Public opprobrium seems to feed his craving for publicity.”
Baroness Chakrabarti said Mr Trump should only be allowed to come to Britain for a state visit if he backed down on the restrictions. “I do want us to try and influence Mr Trump, I do want him to think again about this ban,” she said. “I’m not trying to insult Mr Trump or destroy the special relationship. But this special relationship has to be based on shared values, and Mrs May has to say to President Trump, ‘You are now causing me embarrassment, I cannot h ave you c ause our Queen, and therefore our constitution, embarrassment’.”