Amber Rudd condemns Trump over tweets, but insists state visit will not be cancelled
3 min read
Home Secretary Amber Rudd has joined in the condemnation of Donald Trump, saying the president was “wrong” to retweet extremist group Britain First.
However she made clear the Government would not bow to demands to cancel a state visit offered to Mr Trump shortly after he entered the White House.
"President Donald Trump was wrong to retweet videos posted by far-right group Britain First," Ms Rudd told MPs this morning.
Pressed on Theresa May’s response to bigoted remarks from other politicians, she added:
“She will always make sure that she calls it out where she sees it and that is what she’s done.”
Shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry said Mrs May had done “quite well” in her response but could have gone further with her language.
“I don't think it’s strong enough. One of my colleagues was murdered by a man shouting Britain First, a supporter of Britain First,” she told BBC News.
“For Theresa May I think she's done quite well so far. But she needs to learn from this which is you cannot be friends with this man and his views and his values are not ours.
“Yes, we work around him and work with other Americans, but not him.”
‘STUPID’ TWEETS
Earlier MPs on all sides of the Commons piled into Mr Trump after Speaker John Bercow granted an urgent question on yesterday’s row.
Mr Bercow himself made clear his own views, saying that colleagues wanted to show support for "victims of racism and bigotry and to denounce their purveyors".
Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott called the retweets an "attack on the values of this country".
She added: "Whilst on this side of the House we appreciate the importance of realpolitikwe would also call on the Government to make clear that in no way and at no time does it give any support whatsoever to the distasteful view of the 45th President on race, migration, our Muslim communities internationally, because to do anything else would be an affront to voters of this country whatever side of the House they support."
Tory MP Mike Penning said the retweets from Mr Trump were “stupid” and would give “huge oxygen” to a group that most his constituents would not have heard of.
STATE VISIT
Several MPs, including veteran firebrand Dennis Skinner, urged Ms Rudd to cancel Mr Trump’s state visit to the UK, for which a date has not yet been set.
She issued the same response to each question, saying that “the invitation has been extended and accepted and we have yet to make the arrangements” – a line that was reiterated by the Prime Minister’s spokesman at a regular media briefing this morning.
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