Last time Donald Trump came to London a huge blimp depicting him as an angry baby flew outside Parliament, and Wes Streeting said ‘of course’ there would be protests when he returns
Donald Trump will “of course” be met with protests when he comes to the UK on a state visit, Health Secretary Wes Streeting has admitted.
The controversial US President is set to return to Britain after being given an invitation by Keir Starmer. He will become the first world leader ever to get a second state visit, having had one during his first term in the White House.
Tens of thousands turned out on the streets of London to protest Trump’s controversial visit, with a huge blimp depicting the President as an angry baby outside Parliament. Mr Streeting said “protests are one of the amazing things about living in a democracy”, as he praised the relationship between the UK and the US.
No date has yet been confirmed after the King invited Trump to make a second state visit, having been hosted by the late Queen in 2019. At the time the erratic Republican branded the protests “organised flops”.
Mr Streeting told BBC Breakfast: “This historic state visit will be an important moment. Will there be people protesting or disagreeing? Of course there will.
“But I just say to people that those protests are one of the amazing things about living in a democracy. We’ve got the freedom to speak up, people protest against this Government as well.
“But the freedom to protest, our democratic freedoms are built on the bedrock of the US-UK special relationship. And that’s why the Prime Minister went to Washington yesterday to deliver for our country, for our continent, for our world, by building that strong friendship with President Trump and deepening the special relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom as people would expect him to.”
He said he believed the meeting between Trump and Keir Starmer had been a “spectacular success”.