David Dimbleby has slammed the government for giving the green-light to King Charles’s state visit to the US.
On Tuesday, Buckingham Palace confirmed that the king and Queen Camilla would meet Donald Trump at the end of April as part of a state visit.
The visit will include the royals attending a state dinner at the White House and King Charles delivering an address to Congress.
It will be the first UK state visit to the US since Queen Elizabeth II’s in 2007, and will celebrate the US’s 250th anniversary of independence.
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But many have criticised the government’s decision to press ahead with the visit given the events of the last month.
In recent weeks there have been calls for the trip to be cancelled in the wake of Trump’s war in Iran and comments he has made about prime minister Keir Starmer.
This has included him saying Starmer “is not Winston Churchill,” attacking him for the Chagos Island deal initially backed by Trump’s administration, criticising the prime minister’s leadership style and accusing Starmer of ruining the special relationship between the US and the UK.
Broadcasting legend David Dimbleby has become the latest voice to condemn the trip, arguing that it is simply
Appearing on Newsnight, Dimbleby labelled Trump a “narcissist and a bully.”
“He’s been bullying Britain, he’s been rude about the armed forces, about our role in Afghanistan,” Dimbleby continued.
“The King is the head of the armed forces and I think a rebuke of some kind is necessary.”
Dimbleby argued that rewarding Trump with “the full panoply of a state banquet and speech at Congress” was a “misuse of the King, who has to do what he’s told by the government.”
“It’s giving Trump more than he deserves.”
The broadcaster went on to argue that the UK’s relationship with the US is “not one of mutual affections, it’s a deal.”
“Trump has gone rogue with his war in Iran and he’s behaved brutally, been disparaging Britain’s role and Nato’s role and Europe’s role.
“It’s a very bad political moment to send him the present of the King. A state banquet? Whilst he’s bombing the hell out of Iran, when people are dying all over the Middle East? A state banquet with the king, really? No!
“It would have been appropriate I think to have said quite simply to the president, through the usual channels, that this is probably not quite the right moment for the King to come here.”
Perfectly put if you ask us!