Labour Shadow Foreign Secretary Emily Thornberry criticised the upcoming visit of US President Donald Trump to the UK in June in light of his recent decision to pull-out of the unratified international Arms Trade Treaty. In her opinion, the move was "the final confirmation that [Trump] is not the leader of the free world".
"He never has been, and he does not deserve the honour of a state visit to Britain", she added.
Thornberry stated that Donald Trump has been "nothing but a disgrace" to his presidential post and went even further by claiming that he is a threat to the existing world order. Her statements come in the wake of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn promising to boycott a banquet that will be organised for Trump's visit to the UK in June 2019, in light of his pull-out from the agreement.
"Theresa May should not be rolling out the red carpet for a state visit to honour a president who rips up vital international treaties, backs climate change denial and uses racist and misogynist rhetoric", Corbyn said.
Corbyn was joined in his boycott by UK Parliamentary Speaker John Bercow, who declined an invitation to the banquet without elaborating further.
During his speech at the National Rifle Association summit on 26 April, Trump announced that he would never sign the international Arms Trade Treaty as it would mean surrendering "American sovereignty", going on to withdraw the US signature from the accord. The agreement, arranged by the UN in 2013, was signed by Washington, but never ratified by the Congress.
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The Arms Trade Treaty formally seeks to regulate the global trade of conventional arms, such as small weapons, battle tanks, warships, and combat aircraft in a bid to ensure that they don't violate arms embargos or make their way into the hands of human rights abusers or terrorists.
