Nigel Farage, the populist Brexit leader, blasted the man behind the decision not to invite President Trump to address the U.K. Parliament and said he feared he would be barred from meeting the American president during a forthcoming state visit.
John Bercow, speaker of the House of Commons — the chamber's presiding officer — effectively vetoed the idea of a formal address by Trump in Parliament soon after the president was elected.
Farage said in an interview with the Washington Examiner: “The speaker of the House of Commons is supposed to be neutral. This guy is obviously biased, acting for his own political interest and certainly not in the national interest. I think the guy is a complete disgrace.”
Buckingham Palace announced this week that Trump would make his long-awaited trip at the start of June, provoking plans for protests and a string of boycotts. The itinerary does not include an address to Parliament, an honor offered to both Trump’s immediate predecessors.
He added that he hoped Bercow's actions would not harm the "special relationship" between the two countries. The speaker's position dates back to 1377. Bercow, 56, has occupied the role since 2009. He is a Conservative member of Parliament, but by tradition, the speaker severs party ties and acts independently.
Bercow's intervention came as Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the Labour Party, said he would not attend a state banquet for Trump, becoming the first leader of the opposition to refuse such an invitation.
A string of political heavyweights has come out in favor of an address, including Jeremy Hunt, the British foreign secretary, and Norman Fowler, who is Bercow’s counterpart in the House of Lords, Parliament's upper chamber.
Farage, 55, is one of Britain’s best-known politicians after spearheading the push for Brexit. His new Brexit Party is well placed to deliver a blow to more established parties in European Parliament elections on May 23.
As a populist politician who won an against-the-odds victory, he has made common cause with Trump, meeting him at Trump Tower during the transition in November 2016. “Everybody in this administration is very supportive of Brexit,” he said.
But he added that he was not welcome at events last year when Trump made a working visit to Britain.
He said the British government had told the White House that the president must not meet Farage and that he did not expect to be included this time around. “I speak to him and his family occasionally. I support many things he has done and get on well with him personally,” he said.
“But the Conservative Party has a neurosis about me, so I don’t expect any invitations. And on his last trip, one of the red lines laid down to the White House was that he shouldn’t meet me.” He said the decision was confusing when a strong relationship between the two allies was more important than ever, with the U.K. preparing to leave the European Union.
“All I would say is that I have a good relationship with this administration,” he said. “You would have thought that a British government acting in the national interest might in some ways try to use me, which I find very, very odd.”
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/brexit-leader-nigel-farage-slams-uk-parliament-speaker-for-trump-snub-the-guy-is-a-complete-disgrace
2019-04-26 22:11:00Z
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