Donald Trump UK state visit chaos as 70,000 Brits campaign for it to be stopped
King Charles III's invitation to US President Donald Trump for a second state visit has sparked outrage among many Brits, leading to the creation of a petition demanding its cancellation.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer delivered a handwritten letter from the monarch to Trump on Thursday (February 27) during the pair's meeting in the White House's Oval Office. It proposed an "unprecedented" second state visit later this year.
Handing over the letter, the PM remarked: "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 immediately accepted the offer, but since then, the Stop Trump Coalition's petition titled "Cancel Trump's state visit" has rapidly gained traction, amassing 70,000 signatures by March 2.
The petition bluntly states: "After Trump's treatment of Ukraine's President Zelensky, he has shown that he is not our friend or an ally of democracy. The tactic of trying to flatter him into doing the right thing has failed. He is not someone who should be receiving honours of any kind. The offer of a state visit should be rescinded."
Campaigner Zoe Jardiniere took to TikTok to promote a petition, meanwhile, describing it as "so fun" watching the number of signatures "tick along". She explained that the petition was established in response to the "absolute scenes" in which Trump treated Ukraine president, Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday.
Zoe stated: "Trump essentially showed us that he's nothing more than Putin's mouthpiece when it comes to peace in Ukraine and defending the rights of the brave Ukrainian people who have been fighting for three years against awful aggression. Should Donald Trump's state visit to the UK be cancelled? Vote in our poll HERE to have your say."
She continued: "But that's not all - we already hated Trump anyway in the UK. We hate Musk, we hate the oligarch bros - we don't want any of that ruining our democratic systems here in the UK and across Europe."
After encouraging others to sign the petition, hundreds of TikTok users responded in support. One wrote: "Signed. Be back in the UK in a couple of weeks and be more than happy to join any protests."
Another said: "Signed. Someone should also set up one on the parliament website to trigger a parliamentary debate about it." A third person commented: "Should never have been offered given how he has treated Canada - which King Charles is Head of State of too. Glad to see the King met Zelenskyy this weekend though."
Whilst a fourth individual weighed in: "Totally spot on but I think the Labour government will do a U-turn now. We are a part of Europe and have always supported Ukraine."
Back in 2019, a total of 1,863,708 people put their signatures to a petition aimed at barring Trump from his first state visit. It proved unsuccesful.
