MPs debate in
Westminster Hall on Monday on whether Donald Trump’s state visit
should be revoked, after 1.8m sign a petition against it.
Conservative MPs defend the decision to invite Trump, while
opposition MPs criticise Trump arguing that the honour of a state
visit was unmerited. The debate ended without MPs voting on whether
the visit should go ahead and the debate will have no impact on the
government’s plans
MPs
pour scorn on 'racist and sexist' Trump in state visit debate
Parliament
holds three-hour debate over whether US president’s invitation
should be revoked after 1.8m sign petition against visit
Anushka Asthana
Political editor
Tuesday 21 February
2017 07.18 GMT
British MPs lined up
on Monday to pour scorn on a “racist and sexist” Donald Trump,
who they said should not be allowed to come to Britain for a state
visit because of the risk it would embarrass the Queen.
The US president was
compared to a “petulant child” and had his intelligence
questioned by MPs during a three-hour debate triggered after more
than 1.8m people signed a petition urging Theresa May to cancel her
invitation.
So many politicians
packed into Westminster Hall for the debate that they had to have
their speeches limited to five minutes each.
Alex Salmond said he
was unsure over whether to be appalled by the morality of the
invitation or astonished by its stupidity.
“As an example of
fawning subservience, the prime minister holding hands [with Trump]
would be difficult to match,” the former Scottish first minister
said. “To do it in the name of shared values was stomach churning.
What exactly are the shared values that this house, this country
would hope to have?”
Labour’s Paul
Flynn said that only two US presidents had been accorded a state
visit to Britain in more than half a century and it was “completely
unprecedented” that Trump had been issued his within seven days of
his presidency.
Flynn – who
started the debate because he is on the petitions committee – said
Trump would hardly be silenced by the invitation being rescinded,
accusing him of a “ceaseless incontinence of free speech”.
Asked by Caroline
Lucas, co-leader of the Green party, if Trump’s views on climate
science should also be taken into account, Flynn responded that the
president had shown “cavernous depths of scientific ignorance” on
the issue.
They were speaking
as thousands of demonstrators descended on Parliament Square to
protest against the visit, chanting and waving placards reading “no
to racism; no to Trump”. The shadow home secretary, Diane Abbott,
addressed the crowds, as did Lucas – who emerged from the debate to
describe Trump as a “bully and a bigot”.
Inside the chamber,
Flynn was criticised by a Conservative MP when he quoted the
Observer’s Andrew Rawnsley, who has described the visit as the
government “pimping out the Queen for Donald Trump”.
Jacob Rees-Mogg
responded that it was out of order “to refer to pimping out our
sovereign” and argued that no one had complained when Emperor
Hirohito came on a state visit to the UK, who he said was responsible
for “the rape of Nanking”.
Rees-Mogg was one of
a number of Tories to defend both the president and May for issuing a
state visit. Nigel Evans, MP for Ribble Valley, warned against
sneering at the 61 million Americans who voted for the president,
describing them as “the forgotten people”.
Adam Holloway,
Conservative MP for Gravesham, said that while Trump’s travel ban
on people from seven Muslim-majority countries was absurd, it was
“rather refreshing” to see a politician actually do what they had
promised. Crispin Blunt, who chairs the foreign affairs committee,
said the Queen would be embarrassed if the invitation was now
withdrawn.
Edward Leigh,
Conservative MP for Gainsborough, told colleagues that he was going
to make a “difficult argument” and then claimed that Trump’s
racism and misogyny had been overstated. “Which one of us has not
made some ridiculous sexual comment at some point in his past,” he
said, prompting an angry response from female MPs.
A number of female
MPs stood up to complain of Trump’s sexism, with Paula Sherriff,
Labour MP for Dewsbury and Mirfield, quoting his infamous “grab her
by the pussy” comment, which she said was sexual assault.
Rushanara Ali,
Labour MP for Bethnal Green and Bow, urged the prime minister to
remove her invitation because of the “damage to the Queen” of the
association. Naz Shah, Labour MP for Bradford West, said she had once
urged Trump to come to her constituency to share a curry and meet a
Muslim chief superintendent, headteacher, health workers and so on.
“But to do so now
that he is president will only reinforce his actions, his divisive
racist and sexist messages. This flies in the face of everything we
stand for. We cannot support what he is doing,” she said.
David Lammy, the
Labour MP for Tottenham, warned that African Americans were afraid of
the presidency, saying Trump was supported by the Ku Klux Klan and
had white supremacists in his inner circle.
Salmond also said
that Trump would not have forgotten previous insults of him by the
prime minister, and said that his experience of dealing with the
former reality television star, who owns golf courses in Scotland,
showed May was in a difficult position. “From my experience
negotiating with Donald Trump, never ever do it from a weak position
because the result will be a total disaster.”
However those close
to ministers made clear that there would be no rowing back on the
invitation to Trump and hit out at MPs. “It would be interesting to
see how much time and public money was wasted on today’s debate -
it achieved nothing apart from offering some, who have nothing better
to do, the opportunity to grandstand. The British people will be more
interested in the important debate in the Lords on Brexit,” said a
government source.
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