US President Donald Trump (r) with Queen Elizabeth II, inspecting the Guard of Honour at Windsor Castle in Windsor, England, July 13, 2018. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
LONDON — Britain’s main opposition Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn on Friday declined an invitation to a banquet with Donald Trump when the US president visits in June, accusing him of using “racist and misogynist rhetoric.”
Prime Minister “Theresa May should not be rolling out the red carpet for a state visit,” Corbyn, a veteran left-winger and pacifist, said in a statement.
Trump “rips up vital international treaties, backs climate change denial and uses racist and misogynist rhetoric,” Corbyn said, although he added that he would welcome a meeting with Trump during the June 3-5 visit.
Corbyn said it was “disappointing that the prime minister has again opted to kowtow to this US administration.”
Britain’s Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn poses for the media with the Political Declaration setting out the framework for the future UK-EU relationship, in his office in the Houses of Parliament in London, April 2, 2019 (Stefan Rousseau/Pool Photo via AP)
House of Commons speaker John Bercow, who has ruled out allowing Trump to address parliament, and Vince Cable, leader of the opposition Liberal Democrats, have already declined the invitation to the dinner.
Get The Times of Israel's Daily Editionby email and never miss our top stories
State dinners for visiting heads of state are usually held at Buckingham Palace and are lavish affairs.
May invited Trump for a state visit when she visited him in January 2017 — just days after he took office.
The invitation proved controversial and an online petition to cancel it reached 1.9 million signatures.
Advertisement
The president, a strong supporter of Brexit, traveled to Britain last year but only on a working visit without the pomp and ceremony associated with state visits.
Is our live election coverage important to you?
Are you relying on The Times of Israel for accurate and timely coverage of the 2026 Israeli election? If so, please join The Times of Israel Community. For as little as $6/month, you will:
Support our independent journalists who are working around the clock to report political developments as they unfold;
Read ToI with a clear, ads-free experience on our site, apps and podcasts; and
Gain access to exclusive content shared only with the ToI Community, including our DocuNationstreaming film series and weekly letters from founding editor David Horovitz.
We’re really pleased that you’ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.
That’s why we started the Times of Israel - to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.
So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we haven’t put up a paywall. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community.
For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.
Thank you, David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on Google
