Defiant Theresa May insists Donald Trump was 'wrong' to retweet Britain First
3 min read
Defiant Theresa May has stood firm against Donald Trump by telling the US president he was “wrong” to re-tweet far right group Britain First.
The Prime Minister rejected a suggestion by her counterpart across the Atlantic that she was neglecting to tackle terrorism in Britain after he lashed out at her overnight.
Downing Street yesterday criticised Mr Trump’s decision to share with is 43.6 million followers three videos accusing Muslims of acts of hate and accused Britain First of peddling “hateful narratives”.
But Mr Trump hit back: “@Theresa_May, don’t focus on me, focus on the destructive Radical Islamic Terrorism that is taking place within the United Kingdom. We are doing just fine!”
On a visit to Jordan today, Mrs May refused to row back from the comments by No 10 as she insisted she had a firm hold on the terror threat to the UK.
“The fact that we work together does not mean that we are afraid to say when we think that the United States have got it wrong,” she said.
“And I am very clear that retweeting from Britain First was the wrong thing to do.”
She added: “We take the need to deal with the terrorist threat very seriously.
“That’s about what we do domestically in the United Kingdom. It’s also about what we do elsewhere in the world.”
Her former chief of staff Nick Timothy also took to Twitter to defend the record of his ex-boss on fighting terrorism and extremism.
Turning to Britain First, Mrs May said it was a “hateful organisation” which “seeks to spread division and mistrust among our communities”.
Asked whether she would sack a Cabinet minister who retweeted Britain First, the Prime Minister said she had “absolute confidence” her team would not do so.
And she insisted the so-called ‘special relationship’ between the UK and US was “enduring” - although she noted the Government was “yet to set a date” for the expected state visit by Mr Trump.
Labour MP Wes Streeting was left less than impressed with the Prime Minister’s response, saying she was “unable to stand up" for herself.
Meanwhile Britain's ambassador to the United States, Kim Darroch, said he made clear the UK's disapproval of the President's retweets with the White House yesterday.
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