Donald Trump Is Not Welcome To Address Parliament, U.K. Speaker Declares

A top-ranking British lawmaker vowed on Monday to block President Donald Trump from speaking before the U.K. Parliament in the historic Westminster Hall, citing that body’s opposition to racism and sexism and its support for equality and an independent judiciary.

In a blistering statement before the House of Commons, Speaker John Bercow said he was “strongly opposed” to Trump addressing Parliament during an upcoming state visit to the U.K.

“I would not wish to issue an invitation to President Trump to speak,” Bercow said. 

While British lawmakers value their country’s relationship with the United States, he said, “I feel very strongly that our opposition to racism and to sexism and our support for equality before the law and an independent judiciary are hugely important considerations in the House of Commons.”

He would not have backed inviting Trump to address Parliament anyway, Bercow said, but the president’s recent imposition of an anti-Muslim ban made him “even more strongly opposed” to the idea.

“An address by a foreign leader to both houses of Parliament is not an automatic right. It is an earned honor,” Bercow said.

The speech was met with applause from other members of Parliament.

Prime Minister Theresa May invited Trump to visit her country during a trip to the White House last week. The details of the visit have reportedly not yet been worked out:

But the invitation itself sparked protests in cities across the U.K. by those opposed to Trump and his immigration ban. A petition to withdraw the invitation, posted on the U.K. government’s official petitions site, has garnered more than 1.8 million signatures. At one point, it was receiving more than a thousand signatures per minute.

Only seven U.S. presidents have ever spoken before the full Parliament, beginning with President Harry Truman in 1947. Presidents Dwight Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama followed.