UK says Trump trip invite still stands after report of delay over likely protests

Britain’s state invitation to US President Donald Trump still stands, the prime minister’s office said Sunday, after reports that Trump wanted to postpone the trip because he might be met with protests.

Britain’s Guardian newspaper group reported that Trump told UK Prime Minister Theresa May in a phone call in recent weeks that he does not want to go ahead with a state visit until the British public supports him coming. The newspaper cited an unnamed Downing Street aide in the room.

But the White House said the two leaders had not discussed the topic, with officials denying plans had changed.

White House spokeswoman Lindsay Walters said that Trump “has tremendous respect for Prime Minister May. That subject never came up on the call.”

May’s office declined to comment on “private phone conversations.”

It said Queen Elizabeth II had “extended an invitation to President Trump to visit the UK and there is no change to those plans.”

But The New York Times confirmed at least some details of the report from American officials, the paper’s White House correspondent Glenn Thrush tweeted on Sunday: “UK off Trump’s Europe trip for now, per two senior admin officials, not quite going as far as Guardian story. Still possible etc. Story soon.”

Trump had been invited to make the coveted state visit, penciled in for autumn, but no dates have been set, amid political turmoil in London and fears that the US president would be greeted by mass protests.

Trump was already a deeply unpopular figure in Britain before he criticized London Mayor Sadiq Khan when he was managing the response to a major terror attack last week.

The news of the possible cancellation drew immediate praise from UK Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, who tweeted it was “welcome” due Trump’s attacks on Labour’s London Mayor Sadiq Khan last week and his environmental policy: “Cancellation of President Trump’s State Visit is welcome, especially after his attack on London’s mayor & withdrawal from #ParisClimateDeal.”

Cancellation of President Trump's State Visit is welcome, especially after his attack on London's mayor & withdrawal from #ParisClimateDeal.

— Jeremy Corbyn (@jeremycorbyn) June 11, 2017

Khan last week urged the government to cancel Trump’s state visit following his public row with Trump over the terror attack in the British capital on June 3.

“I don’t think we should roll out the red carpet to the president of the USA in the circumstances where his policies go against everything we stand for,” Khan told Channel 4.

“When you have a special relationship it is no different from when you have got a close mate. You stand with them in times of adversity but you call them out when they are wrong. There are many things about which Donald Trump is wrong,” he said.

In a series of tweets, Trump had criticized Khan’s leadership after the attack last Saturday in which three terrorists rammed a van into pedestrians on the London Bridge and then jumped out and proceeded to stab passersby and bar patrons, killing eight people and injuring dozens.

Khan had told Londoners there was “no reason to be alarmed” about an increased police presence in the coming days following the attack, a remark Trump mischaracterized in a tweet the following day, suggesting the mayor had said there was “no reason to be alarmed” by the attack itself.

Khan’s spokesman said he was too busy to respond to Trump’s “ill-informed” tweet and Khan later told the BBC that “some people thrive on feud and division. We are not going to let Donald Trump divide our communities.”

“Honestly, I’ve got better and more important things to focus on,” he told Sky News.

But the US president renewed his attack on Monday, accusing London’s first Muslim mayor of offering a “pathetic excuse” and “had to think fast on his ‘no reason to be alarmed’ statement.”

The war of words was the latest episode in a long-simmering feud between Trump and Khan, who was elected London’s mayor in May 2016. After his election last year, Khan tweeted criticism of then-candidate Trump’s rhetoric, saying that his “ignorant view of Islam could make both our countries less safe. It risks alienating mainstream Muslims.” Trump later challenged Khan to an IQ test during an interview on Britain’s ITV.

His comments caused outrage among British officials.

May, the prime minister, was among those who came to Khan’s defense, though she declined to criticize Trump directly.

“I think Sadiq Khan is doing a good job and it’s wrong to say anything else — he’s doing a good job,” she told a press conference last Monday.

May invited Trump on the state visit in January while visiting the White House.

Trump is expected to travel to Poland and Germany next month and has agreed to attend summits in the Philippines and Vietnam.

There have also been discussions about visit Japan and perhaps South Korea.