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Donald Trump to make state visit to UK in June MPs campaign to have Donald Trump's UK state visit cancelled
(about 7 hours later)
Donald Trump’s postponed state visit to the UK will go ahead in June, it has been confirmed, prompting renewed calls for protests against the trip. Theresa May has beencriticised for allowing Donald Trump to make a state visit in June for D-day commemorations, with MPs orchestrating a campaign to stop the US president addressing parliament.
Buckingham Palace said the three-day trip would start on 3 June. The president would then travel to Normandy in France on 6 June to take part in the 75th anniversary commemorations of the D-day landings. Labour said it “beggars belief” that the government is offering the red-carpet treatment to Trump given his attacks on British and American values. Backbenchers began gathering signatures for a petition aiming to force the cancellation of the trip.
On Tuesday, No 10 said the visit would include discussions with Theresa May in Downing Street. On the final day of his trip, Trump and his wife, Melania, will attend an event in Portsmouth to mark the D-day landings. No 10 said the event would be “one of the greatest British military spectacles in recent history” and would include a flypast of 26 types of RAF aircraft and at least 11 Royal Navy boats in the Solent. The three-day trip starting on 3 June was confirmed by Buckingham Palace and the White House on Tuesday. The initial invitation was extended soon after Trump took office but a planned state visit in 2018, with all its pomp and ceremony, was downgraded to an official visit amid security concerns.
May said: “The UK and United States have a deep and enduring partnership that is rooted in our common history and shared interests. This time, Trump is likely to dine with the Queen, attend discussions with May in Downing Street and join an event in Portsmouth to mark the D-day landings.
“We do more together than any two nations in the world and we are both safer and more prosperous because of our cooperation. The state visit is an opportunity to strengthen our already close relationship in areas such as trade, investment, security and defence, and to discuss how we can build on these ties in the years ahead.” No 10 said the D-day event would be “one of the greatest British military spectacles in recent history” and would include a flypast of 26 types of RAF aircraft and at least 11 Royal Navy ships in the Solent.
May said the visit would emphasise that the UK and US “have a deep and enduring partnership that is rooted in our common history and shared interests”.
“We do more together than any two nations in the world and we are both safer and more prosperous because of our cooperation,” May said. “The state visit is an opportunity to strengthen our already close relationship in areas such as trade, investment, security and defence, and to discuss how we can build on these ties in the years ahead.”
A White House spokesman said: “This state visit will reaffirm the steadfast and special relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom. In addition to meeting the Queen, the president will participate in a bilateral meeting with [the] prime minister, Theresa May.”A White House spokesman said: “This state visit will reaffirm the steadfast and special relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom. In addition to meeting the Queen, the president will participate in a bilateral meeting with [the] prime minister, Theresa May.”
Confirmation of the trip has renewed controversy over May’s decision to invite Trump for a full state visit when she met the president shortly after he took office. The prospect of Trump being granted the honour of a carriage ride down the Mall appalled many MPs. Anti-Trump campaigners called for a protest in London on 4 June.
State visits are formal trips for heads of state involving considerable ceremony and time with the Queen. The invitation was extended by May when she became the first foreign leader to visit Trump in the White House after his inauguration.
When Trump travelled to the UK on an official but non-state visit in July 2018, tens of thousands of people took to the streets to protest and a four-metre-high Trump baby blimp was floated above Parliament Square. The policing operation for the visit cost about £18m.
The prospect of Trump being granted the honour of a carriage ride down the Mall appaled many MPs. Anti-Trump campaigners have called for a protest in London on 4 June.
Asad Rehman, the executive director of War on Want and a member of the Stop Trump Coalition, said the group was preparing for a “huge mobilisation”.Asad Rehman, the executive director of War on Want and a member of the Stop Trump Coalition, said the group was preparing for a “huge mobilisation”.
“It will make lots and lots of people very angry. We will be easily expecting way more than the quarter of a million people who turned out last time,” he told BBC Radio 4’s World at One programme.“It will make lots and lots of people very angry. We will be easily expecting way more than the quarter of a million people who turned out last time,” he told BBC Radio 4’s World at One programme.
“It will be very visual, it will be very creative, it will be a carnival atmosphere. People will be making sure that Donald Trump doesn’t have the photo opportunity that he wants.”
Emily Thornberry, the shadow foreign secretary, issued a strongly worded statement against the visit. “It beggars belief that on the very same day Donald Trump is threatening to veto a UN resolution against the use of rape as a weapon of war, Theresa May is pressing ahead with her plans to honour him with a state visit to the UK,” she said.Emily Thornberry, the shadow foreign secretary, issued a strongly worded statement against the visit. “It beggars belief that on the very same day Donald Trump is threatening to veto a UN resolution against the use of rape as a weapon of war, Theresa May is pressing ahead with her plans to honour him with a state visit to the UK,” she said.
“This is a president who has systematically assaulted all the shared values that unite our two countries, and unless Theresa May is finally going to stand up to him and object to that behaviour, she has no business wasting taxpayers’ money on all the pomp, ceremony and policing costs that will come with this visit.” The Scottish government said in a pointed statement that it had not been consulted about the trip. A spokeswoman added: “We will not compromise our fundamental values of equality, diversity and human rights, and we expect these values to be made clear during the president’s visit to the UK.”
Several Labour MPs said Trump’s controversial views and record in office meant he should not be welcomed in the UK. A group of backbench Labour MPs began organising an early day motion calling on May to ask Buckingham Palace to rescind the invitation. The motion said MPs “note previous motions and debates in the house including on the withholding of the honour of a joint address to the houses of parliament; further notes the historical significance and honour that comes with the choice to offer a full state visit to an individual; and calls on the prime minister and the government to rescind the advice to offer a full state visit to President Trump.”
The shadow Treasury minister, Clive Lewis, urged protesters to “dust off the blimp”. Stephen Doughty, who is gathering signatures, said the invitation was “bonkers” and called Trump a “racist, sexist, extremist” whose presence would deepen divisions in the country.
Dust off the blimp @crisortunity #TrumpUKVisit pic.twitter.com/Og9feH3WfxDust off the blimp @crisortunity #TrumpUKVisit pic.twitter.com/Og9feH3Wfx
David Lammy described Trump as “deluded, dishonest, xenophobic, narcissistic” and not worthy of the UK’s highest honours and a banquet with the Queen. “Theresa May is selling out the UK to a serial liar and a cheat,” he said. Another Labour MP, David Lammy, described Trump as “deluded, dishonest, xenophobic, narcissistic” not worthy of the UK’s highest honours or a banquet with the Queen. “Theresa May is selling out the UK to a serial liar and a cheat,” he said.
Stephen Doughty said the invitation was “bonkers” and called Trump a “racist, sexist, extremist” whose presence would deepen divisions in the country. John Bercow, the Speaker, has previously indicated he would not want to allow Trump to address both houses of parliament, which has happened on previous state visits by foreign leaders.
It is unusual for a state visit to be announced at such short notice, and details of the trip have yet to be finalised with fewer than six weeks to go. It is unclear if Trump will be invited, or allowed, to address both houses of parliament. In February 2017, Bercow said he felt “very strongly that our opposition to racism and to sexism and our support for equality before the law and an independent judiciary are hugely important considerations in the House of Commons”.
In February 2017, the House of Commons Speaker said Trump should not be allowed to speak to parliament. “I feel very strongly that our opposition to racism and to sexism and our support for equality before the law and an independent judiciary are hugely important considerations in the House of Commons,” said John Bercow. Meanwhile, Gerald Vernon-Jackson, the Liberal Democrat leader of Portsmouth city council expressed dismay that Trump’s visit could overshadow the D-day commemorations.
On Tuesday, a spokeswoman for the Speaker’s Office said: “Should a request be made to address the houses of Parliament, it will be considered in the usual way.” “I am disappointed because it will change the nature of the event a great deal; for us the centre of the events was meant to be the veterans,” he said.
It will be only the third state visit by a US president during the Queen’s 67-year reign, following his two immediate predecessors, George W Bush and Barack Obama. It will be only the third state visit by a US president during the Queen’s 67-year reign, after George W Bush and Barack Obama.
During his visit last year, Trump met the Queen at Windsor Castle. He described her as a “tremendous woman” who had “really never made a mistake”.During his visit last year, Trump met the Queen at Windsor Castle. He described her as a “tremendous woman” who had “really never made a mistake”.
That visit was timed to coincide with ceremonies in France to mark the 1918 armistice. Unlike other world leaders, he failed to turn up to some of the planned events because of rain.
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