A petition to stop Donald Trump’s state visit to the UK is creeping towards 1500,000 signatures.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer handed Trump a written invitation from the King on Thursday when the pair met in the Oval Office of the white House.
The letter invited Trump to undertake an “unprecedented” second state visit later this year.
As he handed it over the letter, Sir Keir said: “This is really special. This has never happened before. This is unprecedented. It is my pleasure to bring from His Majesty the King, a letter.
“He sends his best wishes and his regards, of course, but he also asked me to bear this letter and bring it to you. So can I present a letter from the King.”
Trump accepted the invitation immediately but since then a petition directed at King Charles and the prime minister has called for this state visit to be cancelled, and at the time of writing it is just shy of 150,000 signatures.
On Thursday, the online petition only had 10 signatures, LBC reports.
The petition, titled ‘No second state visit for Trump’, reads: “Unbelievable. Keir Starmer has handed Donald Trump a letter from King Charles, inviting him for a second state visit to the UK. It’s totally unprecedented, and should not go ahead.
“This is the same Donald Trump that in recent weeks has buddied up with Putin, cranked up tariffs on trade, slashed aid across the world and berated Ukrainian President Zelensky in the White House. Meanwhile his best buddy Elon Musk has been sticking his oar into UK politics and spreading lies on social media.
“No date for the visit is set yet – so if we’re going to have any chance of stopping this happening, we need to act right now. A huge petition signed by hundreds of thousands of us will show Trump, The King and the PM how unwelcome the US president truly is. It’s the first step in stopping this terrible idea.”
Meanwhile, London Mayor Sadiq Khan has invited Trump to join him for a Brick Lane curry when he comes to the capital for his state visit.
The Labour mayor, who has been vocally critical of Trump in the past, said it would be good to show him “the joys of our diversity.”
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