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Donald Trump was ‘wrong’ to retweet videos produced by the ‘hateful’ Britain First organisation, Prime Minister Theresa May has said.

But Mrs May indicated that she is not withdrawing her invitation for the US President to come to the UK on a state visit, despite widespread calls for the trip to be cancelled.

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Mr Trump sparked outrage in the UK by retweeting three videos from the far-right group, purportedly showing violent acts by Muslims.

In response to a statement from Downing Street describing his actions as ‘wrong’, the President issued a late-night tweet directed personally at the Prime Minister, saying: ‘@Theresa-May, don’t focus on me, focus on the destructive Radical Islamic Terrorism that is taking place within the United Kingdom. We are doing just fine!’




In her first personal response to the furore, at a press conference during a visit to Jordan, Mrs May said that the UK and US worked closely together in the fight against terrorism.

Theresa May was firm in her response to Donald Trump’s Twitter behaviour (Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images)

He tweeted the wrong Theresa May at first

And she added: ‘The fact that we work together does not mean that we are afraid to say when we think that the United States have got it wrong and to be very clear with them.

‘I am very clear that retweeting from Britain First was the wrong thing to do.’

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Mrs May’s rebuke to the president won applause from her Jordanian audience.

Asked whether she regarded Mr Trump as a fit person to be hosted by the Queen on a state visit, the Prime Minister said only: ‘An invitation for a state visit has been extended and has been accepted. We have yet to set a date.’

She said: ‘Britain First is a hateful organisation. It seeks to spread division and mistrust among our communities. It stands in fundamental opposition to the values we share as a nation – values of respect, tolerance and common British decency.

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‘On the issue of radical Islamism, British Muslims are peaceful and law-abiding who have themselves been victims of acts of terror by the far right. There are those who conduct acts of terror in the name of Islam, but it is not in the name of Islam.

‘As Prime Minister, I am very clear about the priority that I give to dealing with the challenge of the threat of terrorism … and extremism from whatever source they come.’

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MPs have said that Trump should delete his Twitter account and be banned from entering the UK following the retweets.

Ministers were also pressed to cancel the US President’s planned state visit while Labour’s Paul Flynn suggested he must be charged with inciting racial hatred should he come to Britain.

The widespread condemnation in Parliament of Mr Trump came after he shared anti-Muslim videos posted online by Britain First.

Speaking in the Commons, Conservative MP Peter Bone (Wellingborough) asked Home Secretary Amber Rudd: ‘Wouldn’t the world be a better place if the Prime Minister could persuade the President of the United States to delete his Twitter account?’

Donald Trump is doing nothing for the special relationship the UK has with the US (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

Ms Rudd appeared to back the suggestion when she replied: ‘It’s interesting to note (Mr Bone’s) advice regarding Twitter accounts – I’m sure many of us might share his view.’



Mr Flynn (Newport West) later said of Mr Trump: ‘He has disgraced himself again and again, and he worries us because his impulsive finger is on the nuclear button.

‘If he’s allowed to come to this country now, he should be treated as anyone else who breaks the law, and charged with inciting racial hatred.

‘The Government should withdraw the invitation.’

Fellow Labour MP Naz Shah (Bradford West) said Theresa May as home secretary had ‘banned people from entering this country, individuals who had promoted organisations peddling the hate-filled ideology of fascism’.

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She added: ‘Not only has the commander in tweet done this, he has defended it, publicly chastising the British Prime Minister for her comments.

‘Putting aside the question of a state visit, should he even be allowed to enter our country, because unprecedented actions require unprecedented responses?’

Ms Rudd said the Prime Minister had ‘robustly replied’ to the President, adding: ‘We do not routinely comment on individual exclusion cases.’

Labour former minister Chris Bryant said the President was ‘a repeat offender’ and had decided to stand by Britain First when criticised by Mrs May.

‘You cannot stand up to this kind of action, you cannot stand up to horrible racism, or pretend to do so, and invite the man in through the front door,’ Mr Bryant said.

‘The Prime Minister when she was home secretary said homophobes and racists who will stir up hatred in this country will not be allowed in this country, and if they come to this country they’ll be arrested.

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‘That’s what should happen in this case, and the Home Secretary knows it.’


Tory former minister Tim Loughton added that Twitter should ‘have no hesitance in taking down the Twitter account of the First Citizen of the US, as it would any other citizen of the world who peddles such hate crime’.

The criticism of Mr Trump came after Speaker John Bercow granted an urgent question from Labour’s Stephen Doughty, with the Cardiff South and Penarth MP saying the President was ‘either a racist, incompetent or unthinking – or all three’ to retweet the Britain First videos.

Shadow home secretary Diane Abbott added Mr Trump’s online actions were ‘offensive to all decent British people’.

Ms Rudd replied that the UK had been ‘very clear’ that Mr Trump was ‘wrong’ to retweet the videos, adding: ‘We will continue to speak freely and frankly when it takes place.’

The Home Secretary also said that while an invitation for a state visit had been extended and accepted, the dates and the precise arrangements had yet to be agreed.

Kevin Brennan, a Labour former minister, said he could offer ‘a way out of the diplomatic ditch’ over the state visit, adding: ‘Her Majesty the Queen, because of her great and very welcome age, has been cutting back on her engagements.

‘She’s got a royal wedding to look forward to next year, and the birth of a new great-grandchild.

‘Don’t those facts alone justify the Government announcing the postponement of the state visit by the President of the United States, for at least say three years?’