Parliament debated for hours on Monday whether President Donald Trump should be offered a formal state visit, even though the government of Prime Minister Theresa May said it has no plans on revoking Trump’s invitation for a state visit.
Labour MP Paul Flynn opened up debate.
“We all in this room hold in great respect the U.S. presidency, their constitution, their history,” Flynn said, adding that there was “no question of any disrespect towards that country,” CNN noted.
However, Flynn, who referred to Trump as a “petulant child,” argued that a visit from Trump “would be terribly wrong because it would appear that British Parliament, the British nation, the British sovereign, is approving” of his acts, the Washington Post noted.
Labour MP David Lammy said while it’s expected for Trump to visit Britain at some point, it’s not appropriate for him to have a full state visit this soon in his presidency, CNN noted.
“We didn’t do this for Kennedy, we didn’t do this for Truman, we didn’t do this for Reagan, but for this man…we say, ‘Please come and we will lay on everything, because we are so desperate for your company,’” Lammy said. “I think this country is greater than that.”
An online petition that had garnered support from nearly two million Britons sparked Monday’s debates, according to The New York Times.
The petition suggests that a visit from Trump would “cause embarrassment to Her Majesty the queen.”
Although the petition doesn’t call for a complete ban on Trump in Britain, it does request that his political visit would exclude any involvement from Queen Elizabeth II.
There also was another online petition that received more than 300,000 signatures in favor of the visit taking place, noted the Times.
Conservative MP Simon Burns argued that the visit should remain in place due to the close ties between the U.K. and the U.S., CNN noted.
“America is our greatest ally. It has been for a considerable amount of time,” Burns said. “It has stood by us, shoulder to shoulder, in our hour of need, as we did in their hour of need, particularly during 9/11.”
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