The liberal establishment in Britain has reacted with fury to U.S. President Donald J. Trump’s decision to pause immigration from some Muslim states. The policy is aimed at protecting U.S. citizens from “radical Islamic terror attacks”.
President Trump has put a temporary suspension on the U.S. refugee resettlement programme while tough new vetting rules are put in place, meaning that for 90 days no visas will be issued to migrants or visitors from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.
But angry MPs have dubbed the new security measures a “Muslim ban”, with Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn arguing on Sunday that Trump’s planned state visit to the UK should be postponed until he lifts restrictions.
Claiming that the U.S. president used “awful misogynist language throughout the election campaign” and launched “awful attacks on Muslims”, the Labour leader demanded that Theresa May “condemn Trump’s actions in the clearest terms”.
He added: “Donald Trump should not be welcomed to Britain while he abuses our shared values with his shameful Muslim ban and attacks on refugees’ and women’s rights.”
Despite the fact that more walls are being built than ever before — 65 countries have now erected fences on their borders compared to just 16 at the time of the Berlin Wall’s collapse — Corbyn also slammed Trump for what he said was “this absurd idea of building a wall with their nearest neighbour.”
In the past the Labour leader has himself come under fire for inviting controversial people and groups to the House of Commons, including Hamas. And in 1984, just weeks after the IRA bombed the Tory conference in Brighton, Corbyn invited Sinn Fein boss Gerry Adams to plug his autobiography.
Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron, who has repeatedly said the will of the British people can be overturned and Brexit stopped, claimed that the President’s actions have “horrified the world”.
Slamming Theresa May for being, in his view, insufficiently condemnatory of Trump, he said “at [a recent] press conference she contrived to make the Turkish government look liberal.
“They said it was wrong to build walls. Rather than fighting to build a world that is open, tolerant and united, Theresa May is dividing the world in a very dangerous way.”
Farron neglected to mention the fact that Turkey is currently building a concrete wall barbed with wire along its border with Syria.
Outrage over Trump’s actions has not been limited to the political class, with recently knighted athlete Mo Farah stating today that the president’s policy “comes from a place of ignorance and prejudice.”
Referring to his move to Britain from Somalia as a child, the four-time gold medallist said: “My story is an example of what can happen when you follow policies of compassion and understanding, not hate and isolation.”
While Farah is often hailed as a refugee success story, his younger brother Omar has a string of criminal convictions including for domestic burglary, and false imprisonment during a knife raid, for which he served a four and a half year sentence.
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