Trump could visit Britain in February despite spat with PM

Donald Trump is facing calls for his arrest if he defies fury over his far-right retweets to come to the UK in February.

Plans are being made for the US president to make a ‘working visit’ within months to open the new American embassy in London.

It is thought to be conceived as a pared-back trip, rather than a red carpet occasion. The PM fuelled speculation yesterday that the idea of a full State Visit has been put on hold – despite an invitation being issued and accepted at the beginning of this year.

However, the potential backlash Mr Trump will face was laid bare last night when prisons minister Sam Gyimah said he was ‘deeply uncomfortable’ about the prospect of him coming to the UK.

Labour MP Chris Bryant today repeated his suggestion that the ‘leader of the free world’ should be arrested for inciting racial hatred if he sets foot in the UK.

He told MailOnline Mr Trump should get the same treatment as Robert Mugabe – who faced an attempted citizen’s arrest by gay rights activist Peter Tatchell when he visited in 2001. 

Theresa May faced questions about the spat with Donald Trump after she gave a speech in Jordan today (pictured)

The row erupted on Wednesday when the president retweeted three anti-Muslim videos posted by the Britain First group. 

One claimed to show a ‘Muslim migrant’ beating up a Dutch boy on crutches. Dutch authorities have insisted the alleged migrant was born and raised in the country and his religion is unknown.

Mr Trump also retweeted a video of a Muslim man ‘destroy(ing) a statue of Virgin Mary’, and another where Britain First deputy leader Jayda Fransen – who has previously been convicted of religiously aggravated harassment – to wrote: ‘Islamist mob pushed teenage boy off roof and beats him to death!’ The provenance of the footage is unknown. 

Mr Trump’s actions drew cold fury from across the political spectrum in the UK, with fresh calls for his State Visit invite – extended by Mrs May on behalf of the Queen in Washington in January – to be withdrawn. 

But after Downing Street branded his retweets ‘wrong’, Mr Trump doubled down by demanding that Mrs May focus on tackling ‘Islamic Terrorism’ in Britain rather than criticising him.

In the worst public clashes between US and UK leaders in memory, Mrs May then reiterated her view and insisted she would not be afraid to raise concerns about Mr Trump’s views.

Questioned by journalists during a visit to Jordan yesterday, Mrs May said: ‘The fact that we work together does not mean we are afraid to say when we think the United States has got it wrong and to be very clear with them.

‘And I am very clear that retweeting from Britain First was the wrong thing to do.’ 

‘I think that we must all take seriously the threat that far-Right groups pose and both in terms of the terrorist threat that is posed by those groups and the necessity of dealing with extremist material which is far-Right as well.’ 

And she warned the UK will not be afraid to rebuke America, despite the so-called special relationship, when she feels Mr Trump has got something wrong.

On the BBC’s Question Time last night, prisons minister Sam Gyimah said he was ‘deeply uncomfortable’ about the prospect of him coming to the UK

Mr Trump has fired back at the PM by saying she should concentrate on ‘Radical Islamic Terrorism taking place in the UK’ and not his Twitter activity. Twitter users were also quick to point out that the president had tagged the wrong Theresa in his message

The first video President Trump posted depicted ‘Muslim migrant’ according to Jayda Fransen, beating up a ‘Dutch boy on crutches’ 

‘The fact that we work together does not mean that we are afraid to say when we think the United States have got it wrong and be very clear with them,’ she said.

As the row escalated, the UK’s ambassador to Washington, Sir Kim Darroch, lodged a formal protest with the White House over the retweets.

Whitehall sources told the Daily Mail confidential plans were being drawn up for Mr Trump to make a working visit to London in February.

It is understood he would formally open the new US embassy, as part of a wider trip to Europe. 

It would be more low-key than a full state visit, and the President would not meet the Queen.

The working visit had thought to be on the cards for January, but a senior US diplomat told the Daily Telegraph that had been pushed back.

Mr Gyimah became the most senior minister to voice doubts about the president coming to the UK last night, saying on the BBC’s Question Time: ‘I think what Donald Trump did has definitely crossed a line … 

‘In terms of whether or not Donald Trump comes to this country, I am personally deeply uncomfortable about it. 

‘He is deliberately divisive — and this will be divisive at a time when we are trying to unite our country. 

‘The invitation has been sent, it has been accepted. 

‘It is above my pay grade as to what happens next. 

‘But I think I am deeply uncomfortable about it.’ 

The wall of anger at Mr Trump after his retweets crossed party divides, with a special Commons debate called to air MPs’ views. 

Lib Dem leader Vince Cable labelled Mr Trump an ‘evil racist’, while shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry said he was trying to ‘humiliate and belittle’ the PM.

Labour Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said the comments will be seen as a ‘betrayal’ of the Special Relationship and called for his visit to be cancelled.

Labour MPs Paul Flynn and Chris Bryant suggested Mr Trump should be arrested for inciting racial hatred if he comes to the UK.

Cabinet ministers also joined the condemnation. Home Secretary Amber Rudd appeared to hint that the state visit will not be happening any time soon, stressing that ‘arrangements have yet to be made’. She also suggested Mr Trump should give up Twitter. 

Sajid Javid‏, who is the son of a bus driver of Pakistani descent and now serves in the Cabinet as local government secretary, tore into the tweet online.

He wrote: ‘So POTUS has endorsed the views of a vile, hate-filled racist organisation that hates me and people like me.

‘He is wrong and I refuse to let it go and say nothing.’

Brendan Cox, the husband of Mrs Cox, who was killed during the EU referendum campaign last year, said: ‘Trump has legitimised the far right in his own country, now he’s trying to do it in ours.

‘Spreading hatred has consequences and the President should be ashamed of himself.’  

Labour politician Mrs Cox was stabbed and shot outside her constituency office in Birstall, West Yorkshire, in June 2016 by a man who shouted ‘Britain First’. 

In an excoriating verdict on Britain First today, Mrs May branded it a ‘hateful organisation’.

‘It seeks to spread division and mistrust among our communities. It stands in fundamental opposition to the values we share as a nation – values of respect, tolerance and common British decency,’ she said.

‘On the issue of radical Islamism, British Muslims are peaceful and law-abiding who have themselves been victims of acts of terror by the far right. There are those who conduct acts of terror in the name of Islam, but it is not in the name of Islam.

‘As Prime Minister, I am very clear about the priority that I give to dealing with the challenge of the threat of terrorism … and extremism from whatever source they come.’ 

Despite the row with Britain, the President was back on diplomatic duties this afternoon as he appeared in the Oval Office Bahraini Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad al-Khalifa

As the row escalated, the UK’s ambassador to Washington, Sir Kim Darroch, lodged a formal protest with the White House over the retweets.

The UK’s ambassador to Washington, Sir Kim Darroch, lodged a formal protest with the White House over the retweets

Asked whether she regarded Mr Trump as a fit person to be hosted by the Queen on a state visit, the Prime Minister said only: ‘An invitation for a state visit has been extended and has been accepted. We have yet to set a date.’ 

But she made clear that she wanted to maintain the UK’s close relations with the US, regardless of Mr Trump’s actions.

‘This is a long-term special relationship that we have,’ said Mrs May.

‘It is an enduring relationship that is there because it is in both our national interests for that relationship to be there.

‘As Prime Minister, I am clear that that relationship with the United States should continue. I think it is in the interests both of the United Kingdom and the United States and of the wider world.’ 

The UK’s ambassador to Washington, Sir Kim Darroch, said: ‘British people overwhelmingly reject the prejudiced rhetoric of the far right, which seek to divide communities and erode decency, tolerance and respect. 

‘British Muslims are peaceful and law abiding citizens. And I raised these concerns with the White House yesterday.’ 

Speaker John Bercow granted an urgent question on Mr Trump’s tweets in the Commons yesterday – saying he believed MPs wanted a chance to voice support for ‘victims of racism and bigotry and denounce their purveyors’

Home Secretary Amber Rudd told the House the Government wold not ‘tolerate’ groups that spread hate

Labour MP Mary Creagh said Mr Trump was ‘not welcome here’, while Brendan Cox, whose politician wife Jo was killed during the EU referendum campaign last year, accused him of ‘spreading hatred’

The third video President Trump retweeted shows an ‘Islamist mob pushes teenage boy off roof and beats him to death!’ 

Last year, Ms Fransen was found guilty of religiously aggravated harassment after accosting a Muslim woman. 

The charge stemmed from a January 2016 incident in which Fransen, wearing a political uniform and during a so-called ‘Christian patrol,’ accosted a Muslim woman named Sumayyah Sharpe in Luton, England. 

Ms Fransen admitted that she told Sharpe, who was wearing hijab, that Muslim men force women to cover up to avoid rape ‘because they cannot control their sexual urges.’ 

‘That’s why they are coming into my country raping women across the continent,’ Fransen told Sharpe, according to the Independent. Ms Sharpe was in front of her four children at the time. 

Ms Fransen, and Britain First leader Paul Golding, 35, also of Penge, are due to appear at Folkestone Magistrates’ Court today for a pre-trial review over allegations of religiously aggravated abuse in Canterbury and Ramsgate, Kent.

A trial is scheduled for January 29, the Crown Prosecution Service said. 

She will also appear in court in Northern Ireland in December charged with using threatening and abusive language in connection with a speech she made at an anti-terrorism demonstration in Belfast on August 6. 

Britain First previously denied any involvement in the attack on Mrs Cox, and there is no suggestion that Mair was influenced by or in any way involved with the group. 

The videos were posted by Jayda Fransen, the deputy leader of Britain First (pictured)

Labour MP and Home Affairs Committee chair Yvette Cooper said the government ‘must condemn’ the retweets by Mr Trump

No-one is safe! From Mayor of London to dead soldier’s father, Trump’s targets on Twitter

Donald Trump has publicly clashed with dozens of leaders and notable figures across the world since announcing his run for president – frequently through animated Twitter messages. 

Among those he has targeted or insulted are London Mayor Sadiq Khan, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

Sadiq Khan

Sadiq Khan announced more police officers would be on London’s streets after the London Bridge terror attack in June and reassured residents: ‘There is no reason to be alarmed by this.’

Trump took this out of context and blasted Khan on Twitter. 

Hillary Clinton

Trump has repeatedly criticised Hillary Clinton since beating her to the White House.

Earlier this month he called her ‘the worst (and biggest) loser of all time.’

He told her: ‘Get on with your life and give it another try in three years!’ 

Kim Jong Un

While on his tour of Asia this month, Trump tweeted about North Korea Kim Jong Un, sarcastically calling him fat and short.

He wrote: ‘Why would Kim Jong-un insult me by calling me ‘old,’ when I would NEVER call him ‘short and fat?’ 

‘Oh well, I try so hard to be his friend – and maybe someday that will happen!’ Trump tweeted.’ 

Fallen soldier’s father Khizr Khan 

During his election campaign, Trump criticised Khizr Khan, the father of a Muslim American soldier who died to protect his unit, after he spoke at the DNC.

Trump said: ‘If you look at his wife, she was standing there,’ Trump said. ‘She had nothing to say. She probably, maybe she wasn’t allowed to have anything to say. You tell me.’

Khan responded to Trump in TV interviews and Trump replied that Khan ‘viciously attacked’ him.  

Basketball player’s father LaVar Ball

Trump last week launched a personal attack on LaVar Ball, calling him ‘a poor man’s version of Don King, but without the hair’.

The father of LiAngelo Ball, one of three UCLA basketball players arrested in China accused of shoplifting earlier this month, questioned what Trump did to free his son when he appeared on CNN Tonight.

Trump hit back with a 5am Twitter rant in which he branded him a ‘fool’ and compared him to legendary boxing promoter King. 

Democratic mega donor Tom Steyer

Trump also targeted Democratic mega donor Tom Steyer after he purchased $10million worth of advertisements that criticized the President.

He wrote on twitter: ‘Wacky & totally unhinged Tom Steyer, who has been fighting me and my Make America Great Again agenda from beginning, never wins elections!’ 

Arizona Senator John McCain 

Trump has long clashed with former presidential candidate John McCain, who he says has let down his Arizona constituents.

Trump targeted him saying he came last in his class.

He wrote: SenJohnMcCain should be defeated in the primaries. Graduated last in his class at Annapolis-dummy!’ 

The far-right leader who berates Muslims on the street, has already been convicted of hate crime and is DELIGHTED Trump’s retweeted her

• Jayda Fransen is awaiting trial on two separate charges of harassment and abuse
• Donald Trump shared three videos on his personal account to his 44m followers
• The far-right leader is deputy of Britain First – a far-right, anti-immigration party
• She was fined nearly £2,000 for religiously aggravated harassment of a woman

Deputy leader of Britain First, Jayda Fransen arrives at Luton Magistrates Court last year

Donald Trump today shared three videos posted by the deputy leader of far-right group Britain First in another anti-Muslim tirade.  

Jayda Fransen, whose Twitter feed is littered with videos and pictures condemning Islam, is sitting on a charge of using threatening and abusive language at a rally in Belfast.

She is also expected to appear on religiously aggravated harassment charges next month. 

Fransen is renowned for peddling her party’s anti-Muslim agenda, and she was clearly delighted Trump decided to share her views.

Using capital letters, and talking about herself in the third person, she tweeted: ‘The President of the United States Donald Trump has retweeted three of deputy leader Jayda Fransen’s Twitter videos.

‘Donald Trump himself has retweeted these videos and has around 44million followers.  God bless you, Trump. God bless America. OCS.’

OCS is an acronym used by the party which stands for Onwards Christian Soldiers.  

Fransen, formerly of the English Defence League, regularly marches through cities and towns in the UK holding Christian crosses aloft, which provokes angry reactions from Muslim members of the community. 

During one of Britain First’s so-called Christian Patrols in Luton back in November 2016, Fransen was convicted of religiously aggravated harassment after she harassed a Muslim mother-of-four because she was wearing a hijab.

Britain First Leader Paul Golding and others including Deputy Leader Jayda Fransen during far-right demonstration in London in April

She was fined almost £2,000 as the court heard she told a mother-of-four that Muslim men force women to cover up to avoid being raped ‘because they cannot control their sexual urges’, adding ‘that’s why they are coming into my country raping women across the continent’.

Fransen denied all charges, accusing the courts of being ‘absurd’, and engaging in ‘a really clear display of Islamic appeasement’. 

‘The reason I said them was because from everything I have studied, I understand them to be true,’ Fransen said in her defence. 

She is deputy to Paul Golding, who was spared jail earlier this month after being found guilty of assault. 

He is also facing three charges of religiously aggravated harassment in relation to the trial of a gang of men who raped a teenager above a Ramsgate takeaway.

Golding is set for a three day trial next month, alongside Fransen. 

Jayda Fransen was born in London in 1986 and claims to have practised and studied law for many years before founding a recruitment consultancy.

In 2014, she was elected deputy leader of Britain First and two years later she took temporary control over the party when Golding was sentenced to eight weeks in prison for breaching a court order banning him from entering a mosque or encouraging others to do so in England and Wales. 

The party’s mission statement is issued on its website, and it reads: ‘Britain First is a patriotic political party and street movement that opposes and fights the many injustices that are routinely inflicted on the British people.

‘Our policies are pro-British, our approach is no-nonsense and our principles are not open to compromise.

‘We love our people, our nation, our heritage and culture and will defend them at all times and no matter what odds we face.

‘The Britain First movement is not just a normal political group, we are a patriotic resistance and ‘frontline’ for our long suffering people.’

Fransen, 31, from Penge, south east London, is facing the court action in Northern Ireland over a speech she made at an anti-terrorism demonstration in the city on August 6.

She was arrested by Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) officers on Saturday in Bromley, south east London and taken to Belfast for questioning.

She has been bailed to appear at Belfast Magistrates’ Court on December 14.

Describing her arrest, she said: ‘I was escorted in a police van with four officers up to Liverpool to catch a ferry. Bearing in mind, I was arrested at quarter to four, our ferry was 10.30 at night and it arrived here in Belfast at 6.30 this morning so it’s been quite a jaunt.’

She said police questioned her for around three to four hours, accusing her of being ‘anti-Islamic’, and released her after she was charged.

‘This all relates to a speech that I gave at an event over here where I was invited as a guest speaker, the Northern Ireland Against Terrorism on the 6 August,’ she added.

Britain First leader Paul Golding broke the news to his supporters in a Twitter video on Saturday.

He said: ‘A large group of plain clothes police detectives from Belfast of all places jumped out of nowhere and have arrested Jayda.

‘What have they arrested her for? Both of us addressed, made a speech, at a public demonstration outside Belfast City Hall all the way back in August.

‘The detective I spoke to told me she is being flown to Belfast tonight to be interrogated.

‘It’s absolutely ridiculous – this is non-stop with me and Jayda, non-bloody stop.’

He said his colleague had been arrested for ‘no bloody reason’.

Ms Fransen and Mr Golding were in Belfast on August 6 for a demonstration by around 50 people calling themselves Northern Ireland Against Terrorism, which took place on the same day as a republican march organised by the Anti-Internment League to mark the use of detention without trial by the British Army during the height of the Troubles in 1971.

Trump shared three videos posted by Fransen. 

The first was a clip supposedly showing a Muslim migrant beating up a Dutch boy on crutches. 

Seconds later, retweeted a video showing what she claims to be a Muslim man destroying a statue of the Virgin Mary. 

And the third video posted in quick succession to his 43.6million followers was by far the most disturbing – a video showing an alleged Islamic group throwing a teenager off a roof before beating him to death.

Trump then posted his own tweets, first accusing CNN of fake news, then congratulating his own policies and their impact on the stock market. 

The issue was raised in the House of Commons this afternoon by Chair of the Home Affairs Select Committee Yvette Cooper MP. 

Talking to the Speaker of the House John Bercow, she said: ‘I understand the woman in question has already been convicted of hate crime in thsi coutnry. 

‘And on that basis, given the significance and the seriousness of having the President of the United States of America giving her such a huge platform, does he not think it would be approptiate for us to hear some word of condemnation from the Home Secretary or the Foreign Secretary?’

There was no response from the Cabinet.

Labour MP for Tottenham also weighed in on the debate, saying: ‘Let that sink in. 

‘The President of the United States is promoting a fascist, racist, extremist hate group whose leaders have been arrested and convicted. 

‘He is no ally or friend of ours. Donald Trump, you are not welcome in my country and my city.’

He also raised the issue that Thomas Mair shouted ‘Britain First’ before murdering his colleague Jo Cox on the eve of the Brexit vote. 

‘Do not forget that the man who murdered Jo Cox shouted ‘Britain First’,’ he said. 

‘Trump has gone beyond the pale today.’

Mrs Cox’s widower Brendan Cox said: ‘Trump has legitimised the far right in his own country, now he’s trying to do it in ours. 

‘Spreading hatred has consequences and the President should be ashamed of himself.’