Senior members of Britain’s opposition Labour Party have said they will boycott any state visit by Donald Trump to the UK.
The Queen is likely to invite the President-Elect to an official visit next summer, during which he will address both Houses of Parliament in Westminster.
However, Shadow Home Secretary Diane Abbott said any such speech by President Trump would not be “appropriate”, while Shadow Justice Minister Andy Slaughter told the Evening Standard: “My view is he is going to be a disaster and I certainly would not turn up for it.”
The Prime Minister’s office has confirmed that Britain is considering inviting the President-Elect to a state visit after he is sworn in, with a spokeswoman saying: “An invitation for a state visit is one of the things under consideration following the election of the US president.”
Foreign heads-of-state who make official visits to Britain have traditionally been invited to address MPs and members of the House of Lords at the British Parliament, with previous U.S. Presidents including Barack Obama accorded the honour.
Conservative MP Michael Fabricant said: “The U.S. is one of our greatest allies and it would be inconceivable that we would not invite its head of state to address both Houses of Parliament.”
The row comes after Donald Trump suggested UKIP interim leader Nigel Farage would make a great British ambassador to Washington, tweeting: “Many people would like to see @Nigel_Farage represent Great Britain as their Ambassador to the United States. He would do a great job!”
Nigel Farage welcomed the idea of helping mediate between London and Washington, writing for Breitbart London that he would “do anything to help our national interest and to help cement ties” between the countries.
He also criticised Downing Street for its reluctance to utilise his links with the President-Elect.
“At every stage I am greeted by negative comments coming out of Downing Street,” he said. “The dislike of me, UKIP, and the referendum result is more important to them than what could be good for our country.”
“The world has changed and its time that Downing Street did too,” he added.
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