Jumat, 07 Juni 2019

Theresa May officially steps down as Tory leader - BBC News

Theresa May will officially step down as the leader of the Conservative Party on Friday, but will remain as prime minister until her successor is chosen.

She announced her resignation two weeks ago, saying it was a matter of deep regret that she had been unable to deliver Brexit.

Eleven Conservative MPs are vying to replace her as party leader and, ultimately, prime minister.

The winner of the contest is expected to be announced in the week of 22 July.

Mrs May remains acting party leader during the leadership election process.

Meanwhile, the Conservatives fell to third place in the Peterborough by-election, behind winners Labour and the Brexit Party in second place, in what is traditionally a Tory-Labour marginal seat.

Theresa May outside Number 10 Downing Street

PA

Theresa May at the top

  • 6 yearsbefore that, as home secretary

  • Failed to win 2017 general election outright, but stayed PM

  • Remainvoter in the 2016 EU referendum

  • Brexit dominated her time at 10 Downing Street

BBC

Mrs May's time as leader has been dominated by Brexit, with her party divided over the issue, and the failure to get her deal through Parliament.

The UK was originally meant to leave the European Union on 29 March but that was then pushed back to 12 April and eventually 31 October.

When Mrs May announced her resignation, she said it was time for a new prime minister to try to deliver Brexit.

The end of her time as party leader will come in a private exchange of letters with Charles Walker and Dame Cheryl Gillan, the joint acting chairmen of the 1922 Committee of backbench Conservative MPs.

There will then be a call for candidates issued at 17:00 BST, with nominations opening on Monday from 10:00 and closing at 17:00 BST that day.

Leadership candidates need eight MPs to back them. MPs will then vote for their preferred candidates in a series of secret ballots held on 13, 18, 19 and 20 June.

The final two will be put to a vote of members of the wider Conservative Party from 22 June, with the winner expected to be announced about four weeks later.

While the contest does not officially start until Mrs May steps down, candidates have already been jostling for position.

How the next prime minister gets a Brexit deal through Parliament and whether they would countenance a no-deal exit has been the dominant question of the campaign so far.

Who will replace Theresa May?

The winner of the contest to lead the Conservative Party will become the next prime minister.

Dominic Raab's suggestion at a hustings on Wednesday that he would be prepared to shut down Parliament - the process known as prorogation - to ensure the UK leaves the EU on 31 October has been criticised by his rivals. And Commons Speaker John Bercow said on Thursday it was "simply not going to happen".

Conservative leadership contender Michael Gove has said the UK must not be bound by a "fixed" date if it needs slightly more time to get a deal.

Others, such as Mr Raab and Boris Johnson, insist the UK must leave on 31 October, whether it has approved a deal with Brussels or not.

Former trade minister Lord Digby Jones has called on Mrs May's successor to provide more "stability" for UK businesses over Brexit.

He told the BBC's Wake Up to Money programme that they should ensure the UK leaves the EU on 31 October, "preferably with a deal - but without a deal rather than not coming out".

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said: "I don't know who the new leader is going to be, but it seems to be a choice between no deal, no deal and no deal, as far as I can understand it."

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https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-48550452

2019-06-07 00:55:08Z
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Theresa May officially steps down as Tory leader - BBC News

Theresa May will officially step down as the leader of the Conservative Party on Friday, but will remain as prime minister until her successor is chosen.

She announced her resignation two weeks ago, saying it was a matter of deep regret that she had been unable to deliver Brexit.

Eleven Conservative MPs are vying to replace her as party leader and, ultimately, prime minister.

The winner of the contest is expected to be announced in the week of 22 July.

Mrs May remains acting party leader during the leadership election process.

Meanwhile, the Conservatives fell to third place in the Peterborough by-election, behind winners Labour and the Brexit Party in second place, in what is traditionally a Tory-Labour marginal seat.

Theresa May outside Number 10 Downing Street

PA

Theresa May at the top

  • 6 yearsbefore that, as home secretary

  • Failed to win 2017 general election outright, but stayed PM

  • Remainvoter in the 2016 EU referendum

  • Brexit dominated her time at 10 Downing Street

BBC

Mrs May's time as leader has been dominated by Brexit, with her party divided over the issue, and the failure to get her deal through Parliament.

The UK was originally meant to leave the European Union on 29 March but that was then pushed back to 12 April and eventually 31 October.

When Mrs May announced her resignation, she said it was time for a new prime minister to try to deliver Brexit.

The end of her time as party leader will come in a private exchange of letters with Charles Walker and Dame Cheryl Gillan, the joint acting chairmen of the 1922 Committee of backbench Conservative MPs.

There will then be a call for candidates issued at 17:00 BST, with nominations opening on Monday from 10:00 and closing at 17:00 BST that day.

Leadership candidates need eight MPs to back them. MPs will then vote for their preferred candidates in a series of secret ballots held on 13, 18, 19 and 20 June.

The final two will be put to a vote of members of the wider Conservative Party from 22 June, with the winner expected to be announced about four weeks later.

While the contest does not officially start until Mrs May steps down, candidates have already been jostling for position.

How the next prime minister gets a Brexit deal through Parliament and whether they would countenance a no-deal exit has been the dominant question of the campaign so far.

Who will replace Theresa May?

The winner of the contest to lead the Conservative Party will become the next prime minister.

Dominic Raab's suggestion at a hustings on Wednesday that he would be prepared to shut down Parliament - the process known as prorogation - to ensure the UK leaves the EU on 31 October has been criticised by his rivals. And Commons Speaker John Bercow said on Thursday it was "simply not going to happen".

Conservative leadership contender Michael Gove has said the UK must not be bound by a "fixed" date if it needs slightly more time to get a deal.

Others, such as Mr Raab and Boris Johnson, insist the UK must leave on 31 October, whether it has approved a deal with Brussels or not.

Former trade minister Lord Digby Jones has called on Mrs May's successor to provide more "stability" for UK businesses over Brexit.

He told the BBC's Wake Up to Money programme that they should ensure the UK leaves the EU on 31 October, "preferably with a deal - but without a deal rather than not coming out".

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said: "I don't know who the new leader is going to be, but it seems to be a choice between no deal, no deal and no deal, as far as I can understand it."

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https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-48550452

2019-06-07 00:35:49Z
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Kamis, 06 Juni 2019

Sen. Tammy Duckworth says Trump Vietnam deferment should have been for 'yellow streak' down his back - Fox News

Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., blasted President Trump on Wednesday over recent comments about why he didn't serve in Vietnam, saying he used his "wealth and privilege" to avoid being drafted while inferring that he was a coward.

Trump said he was not a "fan" of the Vietnam War during an interview with Piers Morgan, adding that “nobody had ever heard of (Vietnam). What are we doing? So many people are dying. What is happening over there?"

"#CadetBoneSpurs: no one cares whether you were a “fan” of the Vietnam War," Duckworth, an Iraq War veteran, tweeted in response. "No one believes you were medically unfit to serve. You used your wealth & privilege to avoid serving your country five times, forcing another American to serve in your place each time."

GOP SENATE GROUP DELETES TWEET ACCUSING AMPUTEE DUCKWORTH OF 'NOT STANDING UP' FOR VETS

Trump received multiple student and medical deferments from the draft for college and bone spurs in his feet. Michael Cohen, Trump's former lawyer, testified before Congress in February that the bone spurs were made up in an attempt to shield Trump from military service.

"Sane people aren't 'fans' of war — only # StableGeniuses would even think that. I’ve met many #WWII #DDay Vets. None ever said they were fans of war. They simply answered their nation’s call, regardless of what they thought. Especially during the draft — it wasn’t optional for them," Duckworth added.

BUTTIGIEG SLAMS TRUMP ON AVOIDING VIETNAM WAR, RIPS BIDEN ON '94 CRIME BILL

Duckworth served in Iraq as a Blackhawk helicopter pilot for the Illinois National Guard. In 2004, she lost both of her legs when her helicopter was struck by an enemy weapon and crashed.

"These comments only make one thing clear: @realDonaldTrump got his deferments for the wrong thing. They shouldn't have been for his disappearing, imaginary bone spurs — they should have been for that yellow streak down his back.

"At least that would have been a real condition."

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Trump said he made up for not serving by boosting defense spending. Despite his lack of service, Trump has made several controversial comments about the military and veterans, most notably, the late Sen. John McCain.

Trump had not responded to Duckworth's comments as of Wednesday evening.

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https://www.foxnews.com/politics/sen-tammy-duckworth-says-trump-vietnam-deferment-should-have-been-for-yellow-streak-down-his-back

2019-06-06 00:09:54Z
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Rabu, 05 Juni 2019

Trump Gave Only One Interview During His UK State Visit. It Did Not Go Well. - Mother Jones

Donald Trump’s first state visit to the United Kingdom may have been marked by large protests and a bitter feud with London Mayor Sadiq Khan, but the US president appeared to find momentary refuge this week with Piers Morgan, the British television personality who was the only journalist granted an interview during Trump’s London stay.

The wide-ranging conversation, which aired Wednesday morning and stayed largely on the friendly side, featured several key moments. 

Climate change. Trump recounted a lengthy conversation with Prince Charles, in which the president said he’d expressed agreement with the prince’s concern for future generations, as well as the need to combat global warming. “He is really into climate change, and I think that’s great,” Trump told Morgan. But he quickly claimed that Americans enjoy some of the “cleanest climates” in the world and rejected the idea that the US needs to do more to fight the crisis. 

“China, India, Russia, many other nations, they have not very good air, not very good water, in the sense of pollution,” he said, before adding that such countries “don’t do the responsibility.”

The comments fit into Trump’s well-established record on the issue. He’s called climate change a “hoax” and rolled back numerous environmental regulations. In June 2017, Trump announced his intention to withdraw the US from the Paris climate accord. 

Asked by Morgan whether he personally agrees with the overwhelming scientific consensus on climate change, Trump once again denied the reality that humans are making the world warmer. “I believe that there’s a change in weather, and I think it changes both ways,” he said.

Trump reverses his own remarks on the UK’s National Health Service. Hours after sparking alarm with his suggestion that “everything,” including the UK’s National Health Service, would be on the negotiating table for a post-Brexit US-UK trade deal, Trump told Morgan that the NHS would not be considered.

“That’s something I would not consider part of trade,” the president said. “That’s not trade.”

The reversal appeared to underscore earlier questions about whether Trump understands what the NHS actually is.

Trump claims his presidency is making up for not serving in the Vietnam War. Trump received five military deferments, including one for a bone spurs diagnosis, that allowed him to avoid service during the Vietnam War. When Morgan asked about the medical condition and whether he now wishes he had been able to serve his country, Trump said that he was never a “fan” of the war, in part because it was “very far away.”

“You’re talking about Vietnam, and at that time, nobody ever heard of the country,” he said. “This isn’t like I’m fighting against Nazi Germany, we’re fighting against Hitler.”

He then claimed that he was “making up” for his lack of service “rapidly” by rebuilding the military.

It’s not the first time Trump has addressed the issue. In a 1997 interview with Howard Stern, Trump described his efforts in the 1980’s to avoid contracting a sexually transmitted disease as his “personal Vietnam.”

Trump falsely blames expensive health care for his transgender ban. In the interview’s most challenging moment, Morgan pressed Trump on his ban on transgender troops in the military, asking how he could claim to be supportive of LGBT communities with such a policy. “Because they take massive amounts of drugs,” Trump told Morgan. “They have to—and also, you’re not allowed to take drugs in the military—and they have to after the operation.” 

The president was likely referring to drugs for hormone treatment. Regardless, the military does not prohibit service members from using prescription drugs.

“The cost of the medication is minuscule compared to the overall budget,” Morgan told Trump, citing a report that the US military’s budget includes more money for Viagra than for medicals bills for transgender troops. “It just seems to me an unnecessary thing for a guy who wants to be supportive of LGBT rights and the community around the world that you’ve taken this action,” Morgan continued.

“Well, it is what it is,” Trump responded. “Also massive amounts of people going in and then asking for the operation, and the operation is $200,000, $250,000, and they have to take large amounts of drugs for that, large amounts, and you can’t do that.”

In fact, a 2016 RAND Corporation study found that relatively few active service members are likely to seek medical treatment for gender-related care and that the costs of such care are low. “Even upper-bound estimates indicate that less than 0.1 percent of the total force would seek transition-related care that could disrupt their ability to deploy,” researchers concluded.

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https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2019/06/trump-piers-morgan-transgender-troops-climate-change/

2019-06-05 14:49:16Z
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Mr. Trump Storms the U.K. - The New York Times

“He is a very controversial president, and we’ve all got used to that over the past two years,” said the British foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt, who greeted President Trump on his arrival for a state visit on Monday, possibly saying all that needed to be said.

How times have changed. Two years ago, Mr. Trump’s outrageous comments and tweets while a guest on foreign soil — calling the London mayor a “stone cold loser,” the leader of the opposition party “somewhat of a negative force” and the protests against his visit “fake news” — might have caused major shock. The inclusion of the president’s adult children in official events like a state dinner might have raised eyebrows. And the mockery of the president in the streets, including a giant statue of the president atop a golden toilet named the Dump Trump, would surely have created a stir.

But back then state visits were minutely choreographed affairs in which every utterance and gesture was laden with diplomatic nuance, and the hosts and guests were expected to show respect and deference for each other. Not this president. Mr. Trump has seemed perfectly happy to take his Twitter attacks, political feuds, outlandish statements and brazen lies with him on the road, and to wade shamelessly into his hosts’ affairs.

He sang the praises of Nigel Farage, the far-right anti-European Union politician, and Boris Johnson, a leading candidate to succeed Theresa May as prime minister (though Mr. Johnson declined an invitation for a one-on-one meeting); he declared Britain the United States’ biggest trading partner, a fact, he said, “a lot of people don’t know.” They don’t because, so far this year, Mexico is; Britain is seventh (as it was last year, too).

The quips and tweets made news, of course, but the shock value was gone, and much of the coverage focused happily on the Downton Abbey theater that the British royal family does so well. Queen Elizabeth II, diminutive alongside Mr. Trump, seemed to enjoy showing him and his family around her palace, and the president grinned happily in his sorely ill-fitting white tie and tails at the royal feast. There was really nothing else to this extremely costly state visit, since Mrs. May is a lame duck, her successor is unknown and British politics are in utter disarray over Brexit.

As is his wont, Mr. Trump simply denied all the evidence of his extraordinary unpopularity in Britain. He claimed that he had been greeted by “tremendous crowds of well-wishers” and that there was “great love all around.” In fact, an online petition opposing the visit garnered 1,863,708 signatures and a recent YouGov poll found that two-thirds of British respondents had a negative opinion of him. The speaker of the House of Commons would not allow him to address Parliament, and among notable figures missing from the 170 guests at the state dinner in his honor were Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle, and the heads of the Labour and Liberal Democrat Parties.

And if Mr. Trump’s visit did not draw as many protesters to Trafalgar Square as his visit last July, the mockery was still crude, including the same giant orange balloon of Mr. Trump as a scowling baby wearing a diaper and clutching a cellphone that debuted in July, and a forest of placards with messages such as “Make America Great Again. Impeach Me,” “Climate change is real, your tan is not” and “Free Melania.” Some protesters carried portraits of the late John McCain, following the efforts of the White House to conceal from Mr. Trump’s view in Japan a Navy destroyer partly named for the senator, whom the president disliked.

It may come as something of a relief that Mr. Trump’s behavior is increasingly familiar to America’s allies, and so not cause for scandal. But there is nothing to celebrate when mockery of the American president in a friendly capital has become the new normal.

Related
More on the president’s state visit to Britain.
Trump’s U.K. Visit in Pictures: Honoring D-Day Sacrifice
Trump Insults London Mayor as ‘Loser’ as He Pays Tribute to the Queen

The Times is committed to publishing a diversity of letters to the editor. We’d like to hear what you think about this or any of our articles. Here are some tips. And here’s our email: letters@nytimes.com.

Follow The New York Times Opinion section on Facebook, Twitter (@NYTopinion) and Instagram.

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https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/04/opinion/trump-britain-visit.html

2019-06-05 14:42:00Z
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Trump Attends 75th Anniversary D-Day Event: Live Updates - The New York Times

Here’s what you need to know:

Image
President Trump and the first lady, Melania Trump, with European leaders during the D-Day commemorations in Portsmouth, England, on Wednesday.CreditDoug Mills/The New York Times

World leaders and World War II veterans observed the eve of the 75th anniversary of the Allied invasion of Normandy on Wednesday, with a moving ceremony that wove together firsthand accounts of the day with rousing music and reflections.

The commemoration at the British naval base in Portsmouth, England — a crucial site for Operation Overlord, the campaign to retake Europe from the Axis powers in World War II — began with a video montage of elderly soldiers who recounted harrowing tales of the invasion on June 6, 1944.

Ten aging veterans of the battle slowly shuffled across the stage, some walking with the aid of canes, as the crowd rose in applause.

President Trump and the first lady, Melania Trump, sat alongside Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Charles for the ceremony, as a parade of actors, politicians and members of the military took to the stage.

Prime Minister Theresa May, Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, and other European leaders were also in attendance, as were more than 300 veterans of the military operation and their families. Mr. Trump and Ms. Merkel met briefly on the sidelines of the event, where they discussed the conflict in Libya and the deteriorating conditions in West Africa, according to the White House Press Secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

Portsmouth played an important part the D-Day operation: Allied forces boarded ships bound for France at the port; Americans lodged in a barracks in the city; and wounded soldiers were treated at one of the city’s hospitals.

Image
Military aircraft performing a flyover during the D-Day commemoration event in Portsmouth, England.CreditDoug Mills/The New York Times

The ceremony began with a formal procession of honor guards from the Royal Navy, Army, Air Force and Welsh Guards, marching through the crowd in tight lines.

After the troops took the stage and presented arms, Queen Elizabeth made her formal entry and stood next to Mr. Trump as a chorus delivered a rousing rendition of “God Save the Queen.”

Later, when the focus pivoted to the American entry into the war, Mr. Trump took the stage and read an excerpt from a prayer that President Franklin D. Roosevelt read to the nation on the radio the eve of the D-Day operation.

When the president left, to polite applause, dancers took the stage and swung into a high-energy performance to “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy,” the wartime hit by The Andrews Sisters.

For the D-Day anniversary itself, on Thursday, Mr. Trump plans to go to northern France. Last year, during a trip to France to commemorate the centennial of the end of World War I, Mr. Trump drew outrage for his decision not to visit a cemetery for American soldiers because of rain.

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President Trump read an excerpt from a prayer delivered by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on the radio on the eve of the D-Day operation.CreditDoug Mills/The New York Times

Much of President Trump’s trip has focused on the commemoration of a decisive World War II moment, but comments he made during a televised interview with the British television personality Piers Morgan turned attention to his own lack of military service.

Mr. Trump told Mr. Morgan on the ITV program “Good Morning Britain” that he was “never a fan” of the war in Vietnam, calling it a country that “nobody had ever heard of” in the 1960s.

The president’s four deferments from the draft have been a source of controversy since emerging in the 2016 presidential campaign, and his record stood in stark contrast to that of the World War II soldiers who leaders honored at the D-Day commemoration.

Mr. Morgan asked Mr. Trump about his draft deferment, with a doctor saying he had “bone spurs” in one of his heels. That claim has been met with deep skepticism.

“Well, I was never a fan of that war, I’ll be honest with you,” Mr. Trump said. “I thought it was a terrible war, I thought it was very far away, nobody ever — you know you’re talking about Vietnam and at that time, nobody had ever heard of the country.”

“This wasn’t like, ‘I’m fighting against Nazi Germany,’” Mr. Trump went on.

Asked if he would have served if not for his purported foot condition, Mr. Trump replied, “I would not have minded that at all, I would have been honored. I think I make up for it now.”

Mr. Trump was also asked by Mr. Morgan about a White House request to have the U.S.S. McCain moved from sight while he was traveling in Japan nearly two weeks ago.

Mr. Trump maintained it was a fake report — “I’m not even sure it happened,” he said — even though Navy officials and the acting White House chief-of-staff have acknowledged the request was honored, although it did not come from the president.

Mr. Trump was a vocal critic of the man whose name is on the ship — Senator John McCain, who died last year and was one of the best-known American prisoners of the Vietnam War — even before McCain voted against a change to the Affordable Care Act in 2017.

Image
Piers Morgan, left, who won the first season of “Celebrity Apprentice,” interviewed President Trump on Tuesday.CreditDouglas Gorenstein/NBC

President Trump paused his working day on Tuesday to chat with his friend Piers Morgan, the winner of the first season of “Celebrity Apprentice” and the co-host of “Good Morning Britain.”

In the sit-down in the Churchill War Rooms, which aired Wednesday morning, Mr. Trump said there was “a chance” of military action against Iran, cast his ban on transgender people serving in the military as an economic decision and admitted using the word “nasty” to refer to Meghan, Duchess of Sussex.

Before each of his two trips to Britain since taking office, Mr. Trump has set the stage and stirred controversy in interviews with the British media, and last week he did just that in interviews with The Sunday Times of London and The Sun.

He told the tabloid The Sun that he had been unaware that the Duchess of Sussex, also known as Meghan Markle, had made “nasty” comments about him during the 2016 presidential campaign. The duchess, an American and a former actress, is married to Prince Harry.

During the interview with Mr. Morgan, the president sought to clarify his remarks, saying: “I wasn’t referring to she’s nasty. I said she was nasty about me.”

“And that’s O.K. for her to be nasty. It’s not good for me to be nasty to her,” he insisted. “And I wasn’t.”

The president claimed he had a warm exchange with Prince Harry, who also spent time talking to his daughter Ivanka, though some British tabloids reported that the prince had actively avoided the president.

“I went up — he couldn’t have been nicer,” Mr. Trump said.

When Mr. Morgan asked Mr. Trump whether he was considering military action against Iran, after months of threats and escalating tensions, Mr. Trump, who almost never rules out anything, said: “There is always a chance. Do I want to? No I’d rather not. But there’s always a chance.”

“I’d much rather talk,” Mr. Trump said.

Image
Protesters in central London demonstrating against President Trump on Tuesday.CreditIsabel Infantes/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

President Trump has retreated from comments suggesting that a post-Brexit trade deal with Britain would include access for American companies to Britain’s health care system, after the remarks immediately prompted outrage.

During a joint news conference on Tuesday afternoon with Prime Minister Theresa May, Mr. Trump touted the possibility of a “phenomenal” trade deal, but he reiterated that everything would be on the table, including the country’s National Health Service, more commonly referred to by its initials, N.H.S.

That raised the possibility that Britain’s health system could be used as a bargaining chip, possibly weakening it by creating a stronger market for private services and giving American pharmaceutical companies more power.

Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, denounced Conservative party members in a tweet for entertaining the idea of negotiating over the health service.

“They all need to understand: our NHS is not for sale,” he wrote. Mr. Corbyn’s sentiment was echoed by others in his party and across the political spectrum.

The N.H.S. is a government-financed system seen by many as a foundational institution of the modern state. Just hours after making his remarks, Mr. Trump seemed to walk them back in an interview with Piers Morgan.

During the interview, which aired on Wednesday morning, he appeared to make a complete turnaround when asked by Mr. Morgan if he would consider it a “deal breaker” if the N.H.S. were not on the table.

“I don’t see it being on the table,” Mr. Trump said. “That’s something that I would not consider part of trade. That’s not trade.”

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Bette Midler apologized after posting a quote falsely attributed to President Trump.CreditMike Blake/Reuters

President Trump began the third and final day of his state visit by taking aim with two caustic Twitter posts at an unlikely pair of high-profile critics: the performer Bette Midler (a “washed up psycho”) and the Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer (a “creep”).

The first post was about Mr. Schumer, a Democrat from New York, and came around 1 a.m. in London, where Mr. Trump and the first lady have been welcomed with almost every courtesy imaginable by the royal family.

Mr. Trump appeared angry at Mr. Schumer’s suggestion that he might not follow through on a threat to impose a 5 percent tariff on goods imported from Mexico.

Roughly 30 minutes later, Mr. Trump took on Ms. Midler, who had tweeted a debunked quote in which Mr. Trump purportedly called Republican voters “the dumbest” in the country. She deleted the post and apologized.

But Mr. Trump, who has fought with Ms. Midler for years, did not appear to accept the apology. He turned to a familiar tactic he uses with female critics, questioning her sanity.

Mr. Trump, who turned his sights on former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. later in the morning, seemed similarly distracted by feuds back home during a visit to Japan last month.

Image
Queen Elizabeth II welcomed President Trump and Melania Trump to Buckingham Palace on Monday.CreditDoug Mills/The New York Times

This was President Trump’s first full state visit to Britain — a rare honor for a head of state — made over two years after he was first invited.

Queen Elizabeth II and the royal family welcomed Mr. Trump to Buckingham Palace with an honor guard and artillery salute, followed by lunch, afternoon tea, a tour of Westminster Abbey and a lavish state banquet, at which the president and the queen toasted each other.

The president’s four adult children arrived for the festivities, after more than a month of planning by White House officials to accommodate them and Jared Kushner, Mr. Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser.

Before he even landed, though, Mr. Trump stoked an old feud with London’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, whom he called a “stone cold loser,” and who later called him “the poster boy for the far-right movement around the world.” And on Tuesday protesters, having prepared a statue and a blimp in Mr. Trump’s image, gathered in London’s streets to demonstrate against him, though seemingly in fewer numbers than the tens of thousands who protested his visit last year.

On Tuesday, Mr. Trump traded ceremony for diplomacy, meeting with Prime Minister Theresa May to discuss a possible trade agreement, the Chinese technology firm Huawei (which the United States has called a security threat) and other issues. He also spoke with Boris Johnson, the former foreign secretary and leading candidate to succeed Mrs. May as prime minister, and Nigel Farage, the right-wing, pro-Brexit politician whose upstart party did well in the recent European Parliament elections.

Mr. Trump has been a critic of Britain’s approach to Brexit, suggesting that it should be more aggressive in the negotiations. He took a more reserved approach on Tuesday, saying that he did not want to take a strong position. But with opponents of a withdrawal pushing for a second referendum, and the government having failed to come up with a plan that could gain Parliament’s approval, he said of Brexit, “I think it will happen.”

Maggie Haberman, Mark Landler, Alan Yuhas and Megan Specia contributed reporting.

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https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/05/world/europe/trump-uk-visit.html

2019-06-05 11:26:49Z
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Mr. Trump Storms the U.K. - The New York Times

“He is a very controversial president, and we’ve all got used to that over the past two years,” said the British foreign secretary, Jeremy Hunt, who greeted President Trump on his arrival for a state visit on Monday, possibly saying all that needed to be said.

How times have changed. Two years ago, Mr. Trump’s outrageous comments and tweets while a guest on foreign soil — calling the London mayor a “stone cold loser,” the leader of the opposition party “somewhat of a negative force” and the protests against his visit “fake news” — might have caused major shock. The inclusion of the president’s adult children in official events like a state dinner might have raised eyebrows. And the mockery of the president in the streets, including a giant statue of the president atop a golden toilet named the Dump Trump, would surely have created a stir.

But back then state visits were minutely choreographed affairs in which every utterance and gesture was laden with diplomatic nuance, and the hosts and guests were expected to show respect and deference for each other. Not this president. Mr. Trump has seemed perfectly happy to take his Twitter attacks, political feuds, outlandish statements and brazen lies with him on the road, and to wade shamelessly into his hosts’ affairs.

He sang the praises of Nigel Farage, the far-right anti-European Union politician, and Boris Johnson, a leading candidate to succeed Theresa May as prime minister (though Mr. Johnson declined an invitation for a one-on-one meeting); he declared Britain the United States’ biggest trading partner, a fact, he said, “a lot of people don’t know.” They don’t because, so far this year, Mexico is; Britain is seventh (as it was last year, too).

The quips and tweets made news, of course, but the shock value was gone, and much of the coverage focused happily on the Downton Abbey theater that the British royal family does so well. Queen Elizabeth II, diminutive alongside Mr. Trump, seemed to enjoy showing him and his family around her palace, and the president grinned happily in his sorely ill-fitting white tie and tails at the royal feast. There was really nothing else to this extremely costly state visit, since Mrs. May is a lame duck, her successor is unknown and British politics are in utter disarray over Brexit.

As is his wont, Mr. Trump simply denied all the evidence of his extraordinary unpopularity in Britain. He claimed that he had been greeted by “tremendous crowds of well-wishers” and that there was “great love all around.” In fact, an online petition opposing the visit garnered 1,863,708 signatures and a recent YouGov poll found that two-thirds of British respondents had a negative opinion of him. The speaker of the House of Commons would not allow him to address Parliament, and among notable figures missing from the 170 guests at the state dinner in his honor were Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle, and the heads of the Labour and Liberal Democrat Parties.

And if Mr. Trump’s visit did not draw as many protesters to Trafalgar Square as his visit last July, the mockery was still crude, including the same giant orange balloon of Mr. Trump as a scowling baby wearing a diaper and clutching a cellphone that debuted in July, and a forest of placards with messages such as “Make America Great Again. Impeach Me,” “Climate change is real, your tan is not” and “Free Melania.” Some protesters carried portraits of the late John McCain, following the efforts of the White House to conceal from Mr. Trump’s view in Japan a Navy destroyer partly named for the senator, whom the president disliked.

It may come as something of a relief that Mr. Trump’s behavior is increasingly familiar to America’s allies, and so not cause for scandal. But there is nothing to celebrate when mockery of the American president in a friendly capital has become the new normal.

Related
More on the president’s state visit to Britain.
Trump’s U.K. Visit in Pictures: Honoring D-Day Sacrifice
Trump Insults London Mayor as ‘Loser’ as He Pays Tribute to the Queen

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https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/04/opinion/trump-britain-visit.html

2019-06-05 11:17:11Z
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