British Parliament Will Not Ask Trump To Speak

(Photo of Parliament applauding the decision not to invite Trump is from The Daily Mail.)

When she visited this country shortly after Donald Trump was sworn in, British Prime Minister Theresa May extended an invitation to Trump for a state visit to Great Britain, and Trump accepted. The visit will take place later this year (even though millions of Brits signed a petition asking the government to withdraw the invitation).

Normally, when a U.S. President visits Great Britain, they are invited to address the Parliament. It is considered an honor -- both for Parliament to hear the president speak and for the president to be invited to address Parliament. But that is an honor that Donald Trump will NOT get.

About 163 members of Parliament had signed a motion opposing allowing Trump to speak to the Parliament, and this week the House of Commons Speaker (John Bercow) answered a point of order by saying the following:

What I will say is this: an address by a foreign leader to both Houses of Parliament is not an automatic right, it is an earned honour.


Before the imposition of the migrant ban, I would myself have been strongly opposed to an address by President Trump in Westminster Hall.

After the imposition of the migrant ban by President Trump I am even more strongly opposed to an address by President Trump in Westminster Hall.


We value our relationship with the United States; if a state visit takes place that is way beyond and above the pay grade of the Speaker.


However, as far as this place is concerned I feel very strongly that our opposition to racism and to sexism and our support for equality before the law and an independent judiciary are hugely important considerations in the House of Commons.


Bercow does have the authority to deny Trump the invitation to speak to Parliament as one of three "key holders" to the building in which Parliament meets.  And he cannot be overruled by the Prime Minister.

This is a serious blow to the oversized ego of Donald Trump. Maybe it will help him realize that he cannot ride roughshod over this country or the world.

Next Week's British Election Looks Very Close

Great Britain is holding national elections next week, and right now it looks like that election will be very close. The latest YouGov-UK Poll has the Conservative Party winning 272 seats and the Labor Party winning 276 seats. That leaves both major parties without a majority of 325 in the parliament, which means they will have to get support from other parties to form a government (which requires a majority).

The current government is ruled by a coalition of Conservatives (302) and Liberal Democrats (56), but if the current projection holds up, that won't work again. With 272 Conservatives and only 24 Liberal Democrats, they would only have 296 seats -- well short of the majority needed to form a government. Those who voted for the Liberal Democrats in the last election seem to still be angry with their leadership for joining the Conservatives (with whom they have nothing in common), and are set to punish them in this election (cutting their seats by more than half). That's no surprise, and I don't see the Liberal Democrats making that mistake again any time soon.

The biggest party gain is for the Scottish National Party -- going from only 6 seats to about 52 seats. Scotland has in the past, been pretty solid Labor Party territory -- so it wouldn't be unreasonable to think they might help Labor to form a government. Those two parties together would have 328 seats. If they were joined by the Liberal Democrats and the Greens (which seems likely to me), that would boost the total to 353 seats.

As with any election, anything could happen and election day could bring a surprise, but right now it looks like the new prime minister after next week will be Ed Miliband of the Labor Party.