Theresa May was the first leader who visited Trump within seven days of his inauguration. During the meeting, she extended an invitation for a State Visit to him. A state visit is a ceremonial occasion, and the invitee gets to travel in a carriage with the Queen. As news of the invitation leaked out, there was a strong feeling against the visit and a signature campaign was started to force the government to cancel the visit. A petition signed by 1.8 million was presented to the government to cancel the state visit. This was much more than the 100,000 required for a parliamentary debate.
The British parliament thus debated the visit of Trump, and during the debate, tempers flared up as members asked that either the Trump visit be canceled or rescheduled to 2020. Even when the debate was going on protestors outside parliament demonstrated against a Donald state visit.
Speaker opposes
The atmosphere was surcharged as the Speaker of the House John Bercow said that he was opposed to Trump addressing both houses of parliament. This address is part of a ritual, and President Obama on a state visit in 2011 had been given this privilege The speaker is one of the three personages who must approve an address by any dignitary to address the MPs at Westminister.
Visit is on
The British government has already rejected the petition, and even this debate in the British Parliament has no meaning.
It is not binding on the Teresa May government. But it does show that Donald Trump is highly unpopular in the UK. A way could be found out by the government scheduling the visit when parliament is not in session. It will obviate the necessity of taking a decision on addressing parliament. As we know, he will not like to visit England without a chance to address the MPs, as was done by Obama.
Last word
A counter petition to allow Trump to visit the UK garnered only 310,000 signatures. As per rules, this will also be debated in the house of commons. The number of signatures between the two petitions is glaringly obvious in favor of the nays. Donald may not be liking all this news coming out from England. He has not commented on this, and his famous tweets are absent.
