May 4, 2018 This article is more than 2 years old.

Donald Trump is not popular in the UK.

When prime minister Theresa May invited him to the UK in early 2017, more than a million Britons signed a petition calling for the invitation to be withdrawn. A first visit to the US’s close ally is finally being planned, but today Trump upped the tensions again, likening an unnamed London hospital to a “war zone” with “blood all over the floors.”

Speaking at the National Rifle Association, Trump was making the case that banning guns doesn’t reduce violent crime. After first facetiously suggesting that vans and trucks be banned to stop them being used in terrorist attacks, he said:

I recently read a story that in London, which has unbelievably tough gun laws, a once very prestigious hospital—right in the middle—is like a warzone for horrible stabbing wounds. Yes, that’s right, they don’t have guns—they have knives. And instead there’s blood all over the floors of this hospital. They say it’s as bad as a military war zone hospital.

He then added: “Knives, knives, knives,” punctuating each word by miming a stabbing. “London hasn’t been used to that, they’re getting used to it. It’s pretty tough,” he said.