London mayor says ‘cruel’ Trump should be denied state visit

LONDON — London’s mayor says that US President Donald Trump shouldn’t receive a state visit in Britain because of his “cruel” policies on immigration.

Sadiq Khan said Sunday the US president should not get VIP treatment when he comes to Britain later this year because of his “ban on people from seven Muslim-majorities countries” and his decision to block refugees from entering the United States.

Khan said that “in those circumstances we shouldn’t be rolling out the red carpet.”

He spoke one day before British legislators are expected to debate a proposal to downgrade the planned state visit.

The debate was scheduled in response to an online petition calling for the honor to be rescinded.

The petition to the British parliament, which has close to two million signatures, says that although Trump should be permitted to visit the United Kingdom, he should not be accorded the honors of a state visit, as it would embarrass the queen.

“Donald Trump should be allowed to enter the UK in his capacity as head of the US Government,” the petition states, “but he should not be invited to make an official State Visit because it would cause embarrassment to Her Majesty the Queen.”

Although the petition was set up in November after Trump’s election victory, it began attracting hundreds of thousands of signatures following the US travel ban on citizens from seven predominantly Muslim countries.

“Donald Trump’s well documented misogyny and vulgarity disqualifies him from being received by Her Majesty the Queen or the Prince of Wales,” the petition declares, referring to Prince Charles by his official title. “Therefore during the term of his presidency Donald Trump should not be invited to the United Kingdom for an official State Visit.”

Petitions that reach 100,000 signatures are almost always debated in parliament, though in this case it is considered unlikely that the government will retract its invitation or change its attitude to the Trump administration.

The government’s official response is posted on the petition website.

“HM Government believes the President of the United States should be extended the full courtesy of a State Visit. We look forward to welcoming President Trump once dates and arrangements are finalized,” the response reads.

Parliamentarians will debate at the same time an opposing petition, demanding that Trump should make an official state visit to the country.

That petition, which has over 300,000 signatures, reads, “Donald Trump should be invited to make an official State Visit because he is the leader of a free world and UK is a country that supports free speech and does not believe that people that oppose our point of view should be gagged.”

A state visit usually includes extensive pomp and a stay at Buckingham Palace.

UK Prime Minister Theresa May met with Trump at the end of January and spoke of the warm relationship between the two countries. May announced after the meeting that Trump had accepted an invitation from Queen Elizabeth II for a state visit later this year with his wife, first lady Melania Trump.