You will probably be aware that a state visit is a formal visit by a head of state and is normally at the invitation of the Queen, who acts on advice from the government. Were we, the electorate, consulted? Of course not.
Frankly, it beggars belief.
When Trump visited the UK in July last year, he avoided coming to London (“he did not particularly want to come to the capital if he was going to face protests”!). Even so, the bill for policing Trump’s visit was £18million. State visits usually include a procession down the Mall in front of Buckingham Palace (where the Queen would normally host a banquet for around 150 guests “in Mr Trump’s honour”) and, if this were to happen, you can be sure that the police bill will be FAR MORE than £18million! I can only imagine what measures the US security people will insist on being adopted (armed forces? extensive/excessive kettling of crowds?).
It seems that the visit has been arranged to coincide with the 75th anniversary of the D-day landings and number10 has indicated that the event would be “one of the greatest British military spectacles in recent history” and would include a flypast of 26 types of RAF aircraft and at least 11 Royal Navy ships in the Solent.
I, for one, don’t want to mark the occasion in such a blatant militaristic way.
At a time when the world is failing to come to terms with
Climate Change and the UK is struggling with Brexit (not to mention dire
funding issues in education, welfare, health and a host of other issues), it’s
as if the UK government has decided that a visit from Trump will deflect our
attention from such matters.
Ironically, given the state of UK politics at the present time, one is
tempted to wonder who will actually be prime minister or in government by the
time of Trump's visit! I absolutely do NOT want to provide Trump with a centre-stage opportunity to share his bigoted, racist, narcissistic, ignorant, dangerous and fatuous opinions.
It depresses me in the extreme.
This morning’s editorial in The Guardian got it absolutely right in my view:
"Rolling out the red carpet for a US president ought to be easier than this. Britain and America share a ‘special relationship’ which rests on a common language, histories and ideals. Yet Donald Trump makes building on this impossible. He is no friend of this country. The president has repeatedly attacked leading British politicians, singling out London’s mayor, Sadiq Khan. He retweets fascists. On the day news emerged that Mr Trump would be accorded a state visit to Britain, he was threatening to veto a UN resolution against the use of rape as a weapon of war. America has been taken over by a demagogue who sees Brexit as an opportunity for a rabble-rouser to rise here too. He is a dangerous liar whom racists and misogynists think of as one of their own. Mr Trump ought to be held at a distance, not invited for dinner with the Queen… Mr Trump is a media-savvy operator. He uses the world stage as a political advert for his brand of mendacious nationalism. Mr Trump did meet the Queen last year on a flying visit on the way to ceremonies in France to mark the 1918 armistice. Before he arrived, he had attacked Angela Merkel over the level of Germany’s defence spending at a Nato summit. On the day of his meeting with Theresa May he criticised her in an interview with the Sun while lavishing praise on her rival Boris Johnson. He then went to France and mocked the country for not fighting to the last man when under Nazi occupation. One shudders at the thought of headlines generated by a state visit which coincides with the 75th anniversary of D-day.
Mr Trump does not care what Britain, or any other US ally, thinks. He only wants them to know he does not care what they think. That is why Mrs May has failed to change Mr Trump’s mind on the Iran nuclear deal or the Paris agreement on climate change. It is why he rashly committed to withdrawing troops from Syria and Afghanistan without telling allies.
During his last visit, Mr Trump avoided central London due to the expected protests. He will have to endure them this time. John Bercow, the Commons Speaker, refused to offer Mr Trump an invitation to address parliament. He has previously said it was an ‘earned honour’ and not a right. Mr Trump has earned no such distinction. He engineered the most racially divisive US election in years, ranting about Mexican ‘rapists’ and promising a Muslim travel ban. In office his draconian border policy caged migrant children in isolation from their parents. Mr Trump gives the impression of destroying, not defending, democracy. Giving him a platform in Westminster won’t oil the springs of diplomacy. It will just allow another eruption from a fountain of dishonour”.
As I keep saying: “Not In My Name”.
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