The Special Relationship is at risk of meltdown today after Donald Trump lashed out at Theresa May for criticising his retweets of a far-right group.
The US president demanded the PM focus on ‘Islamic terrorism taking place in the UK’ after Mrs May said he was ‘wrong’ to share anti-Muslim videos posted by Britain First.
Mr Trump’s tweets have drawn fresh calls for his State Visit invite – extended by Mrs May on behalf of the Queen in January – to be withdrawn.
Cabinet ministers have also condemned the president’s actions, but Education Secretary Justine Greening insisted this morning that Britain would continue to work with its closest ally. Work and Pensions Secretary David Gauke said the state visit should go ahead but stressed Mrs May had been right to call out Mr Trump’s behaviour. ‘If that has upset Donald Trump then so be it,’ he said.
Theresa May (left) slammed Donald Trump (right) yesterday after he retweeted anti-Muslim videos posted by the leader of the far right Britain First
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
He posted the same message a few moments later with the correct Twitter handle. For a few minutes he left the original tweet up
The first video President Trump posted depicted ‘Muslim migrant’ according to Jayda Fransen, beating up a ‘Dutch boy on crutches’
Mrs May, who is on a trip to the Middle East, has yet to respond to the latest comments by Mr Trump – but is due to give a speech and take questions from journalists later.
The first video retweeted by Mr Trump yesterday claimed to show a ‘Muslim migrant’ beating up a Dutch boy on crutches.
But the 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 wrote: ‘Islamist mob pushed teenage boy off roof and beats him to death!’ The provenance of the footage is unknown.
Amid an angry backlash, the PM’s official spokesman said Britain First sought to divide communities through its use of ‘hateful narratives which peddle lies and stoke tensions’.
‘It is wrong for the president to have done this,’ the spokesman said.
The spokesman said that Britain First ’cause anxiety to law-abiding people’, adding that: ‘British people overwhelmingly reject the prejudiced rhetoric of the far-right which is the antithesis of the values that this country represents – decency tolerance and respect.’
Despite the slapdown, Mrs May’s spokesman made clear that the controversial invitation for the president to make a state visit to the UK, made when Theresa May met Mr Trump in Washington in January, still stood.
‘The invitation for a state visit has been extended and accepted. Further details will be announced in due course,’ the spokesman said.
But an apparently infuriated Mr Trump waded back in on Twitter overnight, saying Mrs May should be focusing on potential security threats instead of criticising him.
He wrote: ‘Theresa @theresamay, don’t focus on me, focus on the destructive Radical Islamic Terrorism that is taking place within the United Kingdom. We are doing just fine!’
Other users were quick to point out that the president had tagged the wrong Theresa in his message.
He posted the same message a few moments later with the correct Twitter handle..
Tory Communities Secretary Sajid Javid was the first Cabinet minister to respond to Trump’s retweeting of the Britain First videos.
Mr Javid, who is a Muslim claimed on Twitter that Trump ‘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’.
London’s Mayor Sadiq Khan, who has been a target of Trump on Twitter in the past wrote: ‘Britain First is a vile, hate-fuelled organisation whose views should be condemned, not amplified.’
Furious MPs insisted Mr Trump was ‘not welcome here’ following the Twitter posts but No 10 said his invite to come to Britain on a state visit still stands.
Brendan Cox, widower of murdered MP Jo, accused him of ‘spreading hatred’.
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’
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn joined calls for the government to take a tough stance on Mr Trump’s retweets
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’.
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Vince Cable described Mr Trump as an “evil racist”.
Writing on Twitter, Sir Vince said: “New Donald Trump insult to Theresa May. She must end humiliating dependence of Brexit Britain on goodwill of evil racist. Cancel visit.”
Shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry said Mr Trump had chosen to ‘humiliate and belittle’ Mrs May, and his actions underlined her poor judgement in pushing for an early state visit.
JO COX MURDERED BY NAZI OBSESSED KILLER WHO SHOUTED ‘BRITAIN FIRST’
The late Labour MP Jo Cox, a mother of two young children, was brutally murdered by Nazi obsessed Thomas Mair who shouted ‘Britain First’ as he stabbed her (file pic)
Labour MP Jo Cox was murdered by a far-right extremist who shouted ‘Britain First’ as he brutally shot and stabbed her to death.
Mrs Cox, a mother of two young children, was on her way to hold a constituency surgery when she was confronted by Thomas Mair one morning in June last year.
Her killer, a Nazi-obsessed loner, shouted ‘Britain First, this is for Britain, Britain will always come first’ as he rained down blows on 41-year-old Mrs Cox.
Mair, 54, spent hours looking up information on the Nazis, the Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacist organisations before brutally attacking the Labour MP.
He lay in wait outside Birstall Library for her to arrive for her weekly surgery before repeatedly stabbing her with a 7in dagger and firing a .22 rimfire rifle.
When arrested, the unemployed gardener told police, ‘I am a political activist’.
Britain First is a far right organisation set up on 2011 a group of ex members of the British National Party (BNP).
Its members have tried to stoke race tensions by launching so-called Christian patrols, which see its members walk through Britain’s streets carrying giant crosses and confronting members of the public.
Several of its leading members have been convicted of harassment after they hurled abuse at women wearing hijabs and for launching ‘mosque invasions’.
There have been calls for the group to be listed as a terror organisation.
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 row casts fresh doubt on the prospects for Mr Trump’s state visit, which has been repeatedly pushed back since Prime Minister Theresa May extended the invite in January.
Speaker John Bercow has already made clear he would block the President from getting the honour of addressing both Houses of Parliament if he does come.
There have been claims Mr Trump has been dragging his heels on agreeing a date because he does not want to face protests – after more than 1.8million people signed a petition demanding the visit be cancelled.
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 MP Mary Creagh posted: ‘Jo Cox’s killer shouted ‘Britain First’. (Trump) retweeting this hate criminal demeans his office. He is not welcome here.’
London Mayor Sadiq Khan, who was embroiled in a spat with Mr Trump last year over his call for a travel ban on mainly-Muslim countries, said: ‘Britain First is a vile, hate-fuelled organisation whose views should be condemned, not amplified.’
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn also urged Mrs May to take a tough stance against the President.
‘I hope our Government will condemn far-right retweets by Donald Trump. They are abhorrent, dangerous and a threat to our society,’ he said.
Labour MP Chuka Umunna told Sky News: ‘I don’t think the president of the United States, a president who has not only promoted bigotry, misogyny and racism in his own country, I don’t think he is welcome here.
‘I think the invite that has been made to him to come to our country in early 2018 should be withdrawn.
‘What we see here is the president retweeting and promoting the propaganda of a far right racist bigoted group members of which have been arrested and convicted for promoting hatred in this country.
‘I am absolutely astounded that a man – any person – in his position holding the office that he does should be promoting the propaganda of a far right British group.’
A tweet from Fransen’s account, which is verified by Twitter, appeared to celebrate the retweets by Mr Trump.
It said: ‘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 44 MILLION FOLLOWERS! GOD BLESS YOU TRUMP! GOD BLESS AMERICA!’
Britain First leader Paul Golding said: ‘We’ve never spoken to him (Trump) before. But the fact he’s shared his alarm at Jayda’s arrest means we’re going to reach out to him. Jayda is recording a video message directly to him later.
The third video President Trump retweeted shows an ‘Islamist mob pushes teenage boy off roof and beats him to death!’
The second video shows a ‘Muslim man’ speaking to the camera and then bashing a statue of Virgin Mary on the ground, shattering her
‘We’re looking forward to all the new followers and support we’ll get from Trump’s publicity.’
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.
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
Home Secretary Amber Rudd did not immediately respond in the House of Commons when Labour MPs Stephen Doughty and Yvette Cooper raised Mr Trump’s retweets as a point of order.
Mr Doughty said the videos were ‘highly inflammatory’ and Ms Cooper said the president had given Fransen a ‘huge platform’ as one MP shouted ‘Disgraceful’ and others said ‘Go on, stand up’ at Ms Rudd.
Brexit minister Lord Callanan said Mr Trump may have not been aware of the ‘appalling’ nature of Britain First, but said the incident showed the president should be ‘more careful’ in his tweeting.
The Conservative peer told BBC Radio 4’s World At One: ‘Britain First is an appalling organisation and there is no excusing the things they stand for.
‘I can only assume that he has made a mistake and that he did not realise who Britain First were. Most people in the UK don’t know who Britain First are.
‘I’m not excusing it. He clearly needs to be more careful what he tweets to 44 million followers. This is manna from heaven for them.
‘We are doing exactly what they want in publicising them and giving coverage to their awful views, and Trump has helped them in that.’
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 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.
Britain First Leader Paul Golding and others including Deputy Leader Jayda Fransen during far-right demonstration in London in April
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.
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’.
Jayda Fransen was born in London in 1986 and claims to have practised and studied law for many years before founding a recruitment consultancy
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.
Britain First’s Paul Golding and Jayda Fransenin pose up next to a sign for Schengen
‘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.’
‘That’s why they are coming into my country raping women across the continent’: Jayda Fransen’s vile abuse hurled at a hijab-wearing mother in front of her four children
Jayda Fransen the deputy leader of Britain First an extremist political party
The deputy leader of far-right group Britain First was found guilty of religiously aggravated harassment after hurling abuse at a Muslim woman wearing a hijab in front of her four young children.
Jayda Fransen, 30, was fined nearly £2,000 at Luton and South Bedfordshire Magistrates’ Court for wearing a political uniform and shouting at Sumayyah Sharpe during a so-called Christian Patrol of Bury Park in Luton on Saturday January 23, 2016.
Fransen admitted telling Ms Sharpe 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’.
But she denied the words were intended to be offensive.
‘The reason I said them was because from everything I have studied, I understand them to be true,’ Fransen said in her defence.
District Judge Carolyn Mellanby said she believed the group had gone to the area ‘looking for trouble’ – but said Ms Sharpe had been mistaken as an ‘easy target’.
‘I have no doubt the words used towards her (Ms Sharpe), in her expression, represented everything against her and what she believes in,’ she said.
‘In other words, offensive, insulting, abusive and, in my judgment, intended to cause offence and alarm and distress to her religion.’
Around 20 Britain First members took part in the ‘patrol’ of Bury Park, distributing branded newspapers which had a front page reading ‘World War Three has begun – Islam against the world’, the court heard.
Ms Sharpe, who was shopping with her four young children at the time, refused a newspaper from the group.
Giving evidence, she said it was at this point that Fransen, from South Norwood, south London, crossed the road and confronted her.
The incident was captured on camera by members of Britain First.
Ms Sharpe told the court: ‘She came across, shouting at me, saying ‘Why are you covered?’, and she said that quite a few times. I told her it was my choice that I cover.
‘I then turned to the camera and I said, ‘Film me, I’m British, I’m a British Muslim. It’s my choice to wear this clothing and it’s my right’.’
She added: ‘I called her a slapper, I admit, and I told her to piss off because I was so angry at that point that she had done that in front of my children.’
In video footage shown to court, Fransen was seen brandishing a white cross as she told Ms Sharpe that Muslim men made women cover themselves so that they were not raped.
Following the incident, Ms Sharpe said she had to go home and explain the meaning of the word rape to her young children.
She also told the court her four-year-old son was now scared to leave the house in case they ran into the group.
District Judge Mellanby described Fransen’s behaviour as ‘shocking’ and commended Ms Sharpe for the ‘eloquent’ account of events she had provided to the court.
Footage of the incident with Ms Sharpe was edited and included in a video which was posted on the party’s YouTube channel.
District Judge Mellanby said she was aware that as a result, Ms Sharpe had been branded a ‘terrorist’ on some websites.
Fransen, who was elected deputy leader of Britain First in autumn 2014, was also found guilty of wearing a political uniform in a public place.
The deputy leader was dressed in a green coat with a Britain First lapel and black beanie hat bearing the party’s emblem during the patrol, which District Judge Mellanby ruled was ‘similar attire’ to the rest of the group and signified her association to the party.
Paul Golding (right) and Jayda Fransen (left), leaders of the far-right organisation Britain First talk during a march in central London on April 1, 2017
Fransen was fined £1,000 for the religiously aggravated harassment and £200 for wearing a political uniform.
She was also ordered to pay £620 in costs – as well as a £100 surcharge – and issued with a two-year restraining order to prevent her from contacting Ms Sharpe or engaging in intimidating behaviour towards her.
A further charge of failure to surrender to police bail was withdrawn by the prosecution.
Following the hearing, a Britain First supporter was arrested on suspicion of common assault after an alleged altercation with a journalist.
Fransen, who is described by Britain First as a ‘devout Christian’, condemned the court’s verdict in a video posted to the group’s Facebook page.
She said: ‘It was just absolutely absurd in the court. It was just a really clear display of Islamic appeasement. That’s all that we’ve just seen.’