President Donald Trump was supposed to go on a week-long state visit to the United Kingdom in the coming days, but according to a report in The Guardian, The President has decided to put the visit on hold. The decision was made at some point over the past few weeks, but the news was released today.
Fear of protests
The President informed Uk Prime Minister Theresa May that he had decided to put his state visit on hold due to his belief that the British public would not be completely welcoming towards him.
The President also believes that his visit to the country might lead to large-scale protests from the general public in the UK, and he would only visit the country when he feels that he has the support of the British public.
The British PM had invited Donald Trump on a state visit to the UK just, a week after his inauguration. She had even announced the invitation during a press conference and stated that The Queen had invited the President as well as his wife to the United Kingdom. The invitation had been accepted by Donald Trump and preparations for the state visit was already in the works.
Naturally, the latest development has come as a bit of a surprise for the UK Prime Minister.
However, plenty of diplomats in Britain believe that the invitation to the President from Theresa May had come a bit too early. Perhaps May thought that it was necessary to maintain good relations with the US after Britain's estrangement from the rest of Europe following last year's Brexit.
Unfortunate turn of events
Over the past week, President Donald Trump has been involved in a war of words with the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan following the terror attack in the British capital last Saturday. He had insinuated that the Khan was soft on terror and naturally a back and forth ensued between the two. Additionally, the public mood in London and large parts of England had also turned a bit dark since the US President was attacking the elected Mayor of a city during their hour of grief.
However, Sadiq Khan probably had the most telling response to the whole thing by stating that the United Kingdom should withdraw the invitation to Donald Trump since his politics and policies go against everything their British values stand for. It is unknown whether Sadiq Khan's public comments about the UK state visit had an effect on the President's decision or not, but it can be assumed that his comments might have had an effect on the British public. It is hoped that the President would reschedule the state visit as soon as he possibly can.