Donald Trump's state visit to Britain
put on hold
US president told Theresa May he did
not want trip to go ahead if there were large-scale public protests
Patrick Wintour Diplomatic editor
Sunday 11 June 2017 13.27 BST Last modified on Monday 12
June 2017 01.51 BST
Donald Trump has told Theresa May in a phone call he does
not want to go ahead with a state visit to Britain until the British public
supports him coming.
The US president said he did not want to come if there were
large-scale protests and his remarks in effect put the visit on hold for some
time.
The call was made in recent weeks, according to a Downing
Street adviser who was in the room. The statement surprised May, according to
those present.
The conversation in part explains why there has been little
public discussion about a visit.
May invited Trump to Britain seven days after his
inauguration when she became the first foreign leader to visit him in the White
House. She told a joint press conference she had extended an invitation from
the Queen to Trump and his wife Melania to make a state visit later in the year
and was “delighted that the president has accepted that invitation”.
Many senior diplomats, including Lord Ricketts, the former
national security adviser, said the invitation was premature, but impossible to
rescind once made.
Trump has named Woody Johnson, a Republican donor and owner
of the New York Jets, as the new ambassador to the UK but has yet to nominate
him formally. A large number of US ambassadorial positions remain unfilled
worldwide largely due to the Trump team failing to make any formal nominations.
The acting US ambassador to the UK, Lewis Lukens, a career
diplomat, clashed with Trump last week by praising Sadiq Khan, the London
mayor, for his strong leadership over the London Bridge and Borough Market
terror attack.
His remarks came just days after Trump criticised Khan for
his response to the attack, misquoting the mayor’s message to Londoners not to
be alarmed by the increased presence of armed police.
Khan’s office pointed out Trump’s error later but the
president responded by accusing London’s mayor of making a “pathetic excuse”.
Khan then called on the UK government to cancel Trump’s invitation. No date had
been fixed for the visit.
The Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, said on Twitter that
Trump’s decision was “welcome, especially after his attack on London’s mayor
& withdrawal from #ParisClimateDeal.”
A Downing Street spokeswoman said it would not comment. “We
aren’t going to comment on speculation about the contents of private phone
conversations. The Queen extended an invitation to President Trump to visit the
UK and there is no change to those plans.”
The White House said in statement: “The President has
tremendous respect for Prime Minister May. That subject never came up on the
call.”
Jenna Johnson, a Washington Post reporter tweeted to say
that the White House press secretary had told her the Guardian’s report was
“false” but added that the White House “won’t say when Trump plans to go to the
UK”.
Later, The New York Times, citing two unnamed administration
officials, reported that Trump was considering scrapping or postponing the
trip. The officials stressed that he might yet “warm to the idea” but that
keeping it off the schedule was the best approach.
The UK’s traditional effort to act as a bridge between the
US and Europe has become more complex since the vote last year to leave the
European Union and Trump’s support for policies that have angered European
allies.
The Foreign Office was disappointed when against its
pleading Trump went ahead earlier this month with his plan to pull the US out
of the Paris climate accord. The UK had lobbied hard for Trump not to take the
decision, which has led to a wider break between the EU and the US.
Trump had been an advocate of Brexit, and at one point
seemed to want the EU to break up, but confidence has since returned to the
bloc with pro-European Emmanuel Macron’s victory over far-right Marine Le Pen
in the French presidential election.
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