Donald Trump will not address Parliament during state visit to the UK
2 min read
Donald Trump will not address Parliament when he comes to the UK next month, it has been confirmed.
The US President will arrive for a three-day state visit on 3 June, and there had been speculation that he would follow in the footsteps of his predecessor Barack Obama by delivering a speech to MPs and peers.
But a Whitehall source said: "Donald Trump will definitely not be addressing Parliament while he is here."
Commons Speaker John Bercow said in 2017 that he would block any moves for the President to address Parliament because of MPs' "opposition to racism and to sexism".
His opposite number in the House of Lords, former Tory Cabinet minister Lord Fowler, hit back last month by insisting that would send out the wrong signal to the UK's closest international ally.
"I find it unacceptable that we should even consider turning our backs on the elected leader of a country to whom everyone in Britain today owes so much," he told the Cambridge Union Society.
He added: "I profoundly object to any attempt to ban the President when he is coming to Europe to mark the anniversary of the D-Day landings when so many Americans were killed and wounded in defence of our freedom."
The Lord Speaker said the snub "panders to those elsewhere who seek to ban speakers because their views do not coincide with their own".
"It also seems to me that if our role inside Westminster is to uphold the rights of backbenchers and their right to free speech it would be ironic to apply a different standard to the elected President of the United States," he said.
"It is my view that we should not stifle views we may disagree with or shy away from lively debate."
President Trump's visit is already likely to be shrouded in controversy after Jeremy Corbyn joined Mr Bercow and Lib Dem leader Vince Cable in announcing he would not be attending a state banquet being held in his honour.
The Labour leader said: "Theresa May should not be rolling out the red carpet for a state visit to honour a President who rips up vital international treaties, backs climate change denial and uses racist and misogynistic rhetoric."
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