Harriet Harman leads call to ‘empty chair’ US president if he is invited to address parliament on state visit

Some the UK Labour party’s most senior female MPs have vowed to stage a mass “no show” at Westminster if Donald Trump is invited to address both Houses of Parliament during his planned state visit to the UK.

The party’s former deputy leader Harriet Harman led the calls for female MPs to “empty chair” Trump, saying his views on women and a number of other issues were “appalling”.

“I could not be there clapping a man who is a self-confessed groper,” she told the Observer. “His views on many issues are unacceptable. And on foreign policy he seems to think he can just bully other countries and get his way. That we should sit there smiling and clapping is... well for me it is out of the question.”

Former cabinet minister Yvette Cooper said: “The idea that we are all going to sit in parliament and listen to a man who is turning the clock back on democracy, pushing misogyny and hatred of Muslims is a joke.

“We’ve fought for equality for decades and we certainly shouldn’t be honouring someone at the heart of British democracy who wants to rip those democratic values up.

“Parliament has to show a bit of muscle on this and not just roll over because Theresa May sent out an embarrassing invitation to Trump in a desperate rush.”

Caroline Flint, another former minister, added: “President Trump’s comments on women, torture and refugees I do not choose to hear again in the mother of parliaments.”

News that Labour will launch a boycott if the visit goes ahead comes as an Opinium/Observer poll found British voters have formed overwhelmingly negative views of Trump. Asked which word they most associated with the US president, the top three selected were “dangerous” (50%), “unstable” (39%) and “bigot” (35%). Only 3% said they believed he was “trustworthy”, 4% “reassuring” and 7% “competent”. Some 44% of British voters said they expected his presidency to be “awful”, while 64% judge him to be a threat to “international stability” and 56% say he is untrustworthy.

Despite this, 50% selected the US as the most important country for the UK to stay close to, against 9% for second-placed Germany.

When asked whether a Trump state visit should go ahead in the light of the executive order banning entry to the US from seven Muslim-majority countries, 36% said it should regardless, while 25% said it should be delayed until after the policy expires and 28% that it should be cancelled outright.

Rachel Reeves, Labour MP for Leeds West, said she could not bring herself to attend a Trump speech in parliament. “I could not sit through it,” she said, while Walthamstow MP Stella Creasy said detailed planning was under way for a range of protests if Trump came.

A Commons motion tabled by Labour MP Stephen Doughty, calling for the Commons authorities to ban Trump from speaking in parliament had attracted the signatures of 165 MPs from Labour, the SNP, the SDLP and the Greens by Saturday night.

The motion states: “This house deplores recent actions taken by US President Donald J Trump, including his executive order on immigration and refugees, and notably his comments on torture and women; notes the historical significance and honour that comes with an invitation to address both Houses of Parliament in Westminster Hall or elsewhere in the Palace of Westminster; and calls on the Speaker, Lord Speaker, Black Rod and Serjeant at Arms to withhold permission from the government for an address to be made in Westminster Hall, or elsewhere in the Palace of Westminster, by President Trump.”