Friends of Tulip Siddiq, the MP leading the campaign to ban Donald Trump from Britain, have said she will be “tearing” his reputation to “shreds” during today’s parliamentary debate on the proposed ban.
The Labour MP for Hampstead and Kilburn compared Mr. Trump to a “hate preacher” and claimed that his call for a moratorium on Muslim immigration into the U.S. had incited violence.
Ms. Siddiq is the niece of Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. She campaigned for Barack Obama in the 2008 Presidential Election and is one of the MPs who helped the hard-left anti-Israel Jeremy Corby become the Labour leader.
She told the Telegraph today: “The law needs to be applied to everyone equally and the Home Office has previous in banning hate preachers engaging in rhetoric similar to that of Trump.
“To argue there is no precedent for banning him does not stand up to decisions taken by this Home Secretary, or indeed previous Labour Home Secretaries.
“The real question is ‘Why should we make an exception for billionaire politicians?’. We should not.
“Those that argue his words are ‘a joke’ or ‘do not amount to inciting violence’, need to take a closer look at the increase in anti-Muslim hate crimes in America since his comments.
“We must confront the reality that his comments have provoked, and consider whether we want to import such hatred to this country.”
Today’s parliamentary debate was triggered when 570,000 people signed an online petition calling for Mr. Trump to be refused entry Britain after he called for a “total and complete shutdown” of Muslims entering the U.S.
The Prime Minister David Cameron called the comments “stupid and wrong”.
Another Muslim MP, Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh of the Scottish National Party (SNP), said the comments were racist and played into the hands of terrorists.
“Donald Trump’s comments that he would ban Muslim men, women and children from entering the USA if he were to be elected as President were almost universally condemned as racist and offensive.
“These comments have provided succour to terrorists and promoted racial hatred on both sides of the Atlantic.
“The UK Government needs to remove its head from the sand and act to address this serious issue now.”
Alex Salmond, the former SNP leader, also supports a ban. He told the BBC: “He wants to ban all Muslims from the United States. I want to ban all Donald Trumps from Scotland.”
Mr. Trump subsequently threatened to withdraw £700,000 of investment from Scotland if a ban is implemented.
The Home Office left open the possibility of a ban when releasing a statement responding to the petition last month. It read:
“The Home Secretary may exclude a non-European Economic Area national from the UK if she considers their presence in the UK to be non-conducive to the public good.
In 2013, Home Secretary Theresa May banned Stop Islamisation of America founder and Breitbart contributor Pamela Geller from entering the UK.
Mrs. Geller had been due to speak at an English Defence League march in Woolwich, where Drummer Lee Rigby was killed, but Mrs. May claimed her presence was “not conducive to the public good”.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.