After a year of increasingly jaw-dropping bigotry and blow-ups, finally some good news from the White House: Donald Trump has cancelled his visit to Britain.
The US President will not be travelling to London next month, where he had been expected to mark his first official visit as Commander-in-Chief by opening the new US embassy in London.
Trump confirmed the good news on Twitter on Friday morning (January 11), claiming he was unhappy that the Obama Administration had sold the former embassy building for “peanuts”.
The US embassyy’s move to new premises in Battersea, London, was confirmed in October 2008 when President George W Bush was still in the White House – a full three months before President Obama took office in January 2009.
Nonetheless, the President tweeted: “Reason I canceled my trip to London is that I am not a big fan of the Obama Administration having sold perhaps the best located and finest embassy in London for “peanuts,” only to build a new one in an off location for 1.2 billion dollars. Bad deal. Wanted me to cut ribbon-NO!”
Reason I canceled my trip to London is that I am not a big fan of the Obama Administration having sold perhaps the best located and finest embassy in London for “peanuts,” only to build a new one in an off location for 1.2 billion dollars. Bad deal. Wanted me to cut ribbon-NO!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 12, 2018
Downing Street is yet to comment on Trump’s cancellation, but Mayor London Sadiq Khan released a statement saying it appeared the President had “got the message” that he was not welcome in the Britian.
Trump’s visit was expected to have been met with widespread protests from Brits unhappy over the President’s hateful agenda, which has included attempts to ban all people from several Muslim-majority countries from entering the US, and banning transgender people from serving in the military.
You probably shouldn’t bin your placards just yet though – the President is still due to visit at a date to be confirmed after accepting an official invitation from Theresa May for an official state visit (if he’s not still running scared, that is).