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Trump's State Visit To Britain Has Been Put On Hold

Natalie Gil
12 June 2017, 5:57
To say the public was unenthused by the idea of President Donald Trump visiting Britain would be an understatement. Nearly two million people signed a petition against it and campaigners said they’d stage the largest anti-racism protest in British history in response.
Well, Trump seems to have heeded our complaints and gotten scared, reportedly telling Theresa May over the phone that he doesn’t want to come to Britain if there will be large-scale protests against him, The Guardian reported.
A Downing Street adviser, who was in the room when Trump called the prime minister in recent weeks, said the US president wanted to put the state visit on hold until the British public supports it. May was apparently surprised by his position. This means he probably won’t be coming for a pretty long time.
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The reports come less than a week after Trump’s very public spat with London Mayor Sadiq Khan following the London Bridge terror attack, which culminated in Khan calling for the president’s state visit to be cancelled. Trump had criticised Khan’s response to the attack by misquoting the London mayor on Twitter.
Trump’s own acting ambassador to Britain, Lewis Lukens, then sided with Khan, saying he commended the London mayor's “strong leadership”, which didn't go down well with Trump supporters.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has welcomed the reports of Trump's decision to pull out of the visit, saying on Twitter it was the right decision in light of "[Trump's] attack on London's mayor" and his withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement.
US administration officials denied that Trump was waiting for support from the British public, however. Instead, he simply "does not feel like" visiting, they told the BBC.
Downing Street said it wouldn't "comment on speculation about the contents of private phone conversations" but said there had been "no change" to his planned trip. "The Queen extended an invitation to President Trump to visit the UK and there is no change to those plans," a spokesman said.
Needless to say, the news of the cancellation went down well with many Brits, including MPs, on Twitter.
Who says protest doesn’t work?
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