Protesters are preparing to spring into action at short notice after it emerged that Downing Street is braced for a snap visit from US President Donald Trump in the next two weeks.
A formal state visit, which was expected to take place over the summer after British Prime Minister Theresa May personally extended an invitation when she visited the White House late last year, was postponed last month amid fears that it could be disrupted by mass protests.
However, Whitehall sources confirmed that the government had been warned that Trump might visit Turnberry, his golf resort in Scotland, during his trip to Europe between attending the G20 summit in Hamburg this weekend and joining Bastille Day celebrations in France on Friday next week.
Photo: AFP
The US president would be expected to come to Downing Street to meet with May for informal talks as part of any such visit, although final confirmation is likely to be given with just 24 hours’ notice to minimize the risk of disruption.
May invited Trump to Britain seven days after his inauguration when she became the first foreign leader to visit him in the White House.
Protesters, parliamentarians and trade unions in February vowed to hold the largest demonstrations in UK history if Trump made a state visit to the UK.
They formed the “Stop Trump” coalition and even hired a permanent staff member.
Early last month, just after the UK general election, it emerged that Trump had told May that he did not want to go ahead with the state visit until the British public supported his coming, fearing large-scale demonstrations.
After the latest rumors of a presidential visit, Stop Trump campaigner and Guardian columnist Owen Jones placed his Twitter followers on high alert, tweeting on Sunday night: “Donald Trump is planning to sneak into Britain to avoid protests. RT if you’re willing to commit to protesting this bigot at short notice.”
Thousands responded by retweeting the post.
On his tour of Europe, Trump is breaking with tradition by visiting Poland ahead of the G20 summit before he makes a presidential visit to traditional allies Britain, France or Germany.
Former Polish prime minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski, a founder of the ruling Law and Justice party, accused Britain of jealousy over Trump’s decision to visit Poland first.
“We have new success, Trump’s visit,” he said. “Others envy it, the British are attacking us because of it.”
Meanwhile, Trump has been accused of encouraging violence against journalists after he tweeted a video of himself at a pro-wrestling event throwing a man with a CNN logo for a head to the floor.
The White House did not respond immediately to a request for comment.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of