President Donald Trump’s Visit To Britain ‘Scrapped’ Amid Racism Row Fallout
President Donald Trump is never far from his next controversy. Earlier this week President Trump stumbled into yet another racism row when he retweeted a number of Twitter messages from British extremist group Britain First. Trump stands accused of endorsing the message of xenophobia, racism, and anti-Muslim sentiment from Britain First, a far-right extremist group with links to Irish terrorist groups. As reported yesterday by the Inquisitr, President Trump caused a diplomatic row with the U.K. when he followed up his faux-pas by attacking Britain’s Prime Minister, Theresa May, on Twitter.
The British parliament is outraged by President Trump’s behavior, and as reported by Sky News, Mrs. May used a speech in Jordan to directly condemn Trump’s comments. Prime Minister May told the press corp in Jordan that she is not afraid to call out the United States when they “have got it wrong.” Mrs. May went on to say that Trump’s retweeting of Britain First was “the wrong thing to do.
The very public row with Donald Trump puts Theresa May into a minefield of political pitfalls. May is under huge pressure, she leads a weak government and many in her Conservative party blame her for their election disaster last June. The political sharks are circling May, and many believe that she will face a leadership challenge in the near future.
Trump’s comments have put Mrs. May back in the spotlight over her decision to invite President Trump to make a state visit to the United Kingdom. May made the offer within weeks of Trump’s inauguration, something that is extremely unusual. Many former U.S. Presidents have had state visits to the U.K., but it is an honor usually extended to second-term presidents. No date has yet been fixed for Trump’s state visit, and as a result of the political row, Mrs. May is under increasing pressure to take the unprecedented step of withdrawing Trump’s invitation.
As reported by the Telegraph, members of Mrs. May’s cabinet are now calling on her to scrap Trump’s visit. Sam Gyimah, Theresa May’s Justice Minister states that Trump’s invitation should be withdrawn because Trump has “crossed a line.”
Whilst the date for a state visit by Donald Trump has not been fixed, the President was due to visit the U.K. early next year on a working visit. Trump was to have opened the new U.S. embassy building in London. According to Metro, that visit has been scrapped in the wake of the diplomatic row between Trump and Theresa May. U.S. officials are said to have quietly canceled the visit in the wake of this latest row.
President Trump will be assured of hot reception in the U.K. if his state visit goes ahead. Nearly two million people had signed a petition demanding that Trump’s invitation is withdrawn before it was closed due to the General Election last June.
