In calling for Muslims to be banned from traveling to the US, Republican Presidential hopeful, Donald Trump, could be banned from entering the United Kingdom. This is due to the fact that over half a million of the island nation’s inhabitants have signed a formal government petition calling for the billionaire to be refused entry into the country. This makes it the most signed of any such government petition in British history.
The petition was started as a reaction to Mr. Trump’s incendiary comments about Muslims, including his bizarre and almost universally derided plan to stop all Muslims from entering the United States. His subsequent reaffirmation of those plans only stoked the fires of anti-Muslim hatred in the US and led to condemnation from across the political spectrum, most notably when Republican senator Lindsey Graham described Trump as a ‘race baiting, xenophobic religious bigot’.
However, the vilification of Trump’s Islamophobic rhetoric has not been isolated to just the American side of the Atlantic. The ‘Block Donald J Trump from UK entry’ petition was created on the Parliament.uk website on Tuesday December 8th, only hours after Trump’s comments were made. The petition quickly surpassed the 10,000 signatures necessary to compel the British government to issue a formal response and has since powered passed 100,000. The second of those landmarks is particularly significant as it means there will now have to be a debate in the British parliament over the matter.
The petition states that:
“The signatories believe that Donald J Trump should be banned from UK entry.
The UK has banned entry to many individuals for hate speech. The same principles should apply to everyone who wishes to enter the UK.
If the United Kingdom is to continue applying the 'unacceptable behaviour' criteria to those who wish to enter its borders, it must be fairly applied to the rich as well as poor, and the weak as well as powerful.”
The huge and unprecedented support for a ban of this nature could make it difficult for the British government to not act upon it, however much they may wish to sweep it under the carpet, especially considering that Trump could feasibly be the American President in eighteen months time. Yet, similar petitions have garnered much less support and been successful in banning unwanted persons from entering the country. It will be very difficult for the UK establishment to argue that Trump doesn’t reach the same criteria for which they have previously banned others.
The specific wording of the law will be vital in determining whether or not Trump will be refused entry. The UK border agency, the government body which issues visas to foreign nationals, can turn away anyone whose, ‘character, conduct or associations would not be conducive to the public good’. It is this clause which has allowed the UK government to reject visa applications from thousands of people in recent years.
If the petition is successful, it would put Trump in some rather illuminating company in having aslo been banned from traveling to Great Britain. Among those currently blocked by UK authorities are Shirley Phelps of the Westboro Baptist, former boxer Mike Tyson, singer Chris Brown and even, ironically, radical Muslim hate preachers like Abu Qatada.
On Wednesday, the GOP presidential nomination race leader responded to recent comments by British Prime Minister David Cameron and London Mayor Boris Johnson. Although both are Conservative politicians, Trump accused them of “pandering to political correctness”, which is hardly likely to endear him to the leaders of one of America’s closest allies.
Mr. Cameron condemned Trump’s comments strongly but Johnson was typically more forward with his response, saying that Trump was "out of his mind", displayed "stupefying ignorance” and most damningly stated that he was “unfit to serve as President”. Although,Mr. Johnson rejected the idea of banning Trump from the UK, going as far as to actually invite him to travel to London to disprove his absurd claim that their were areas of the nations capital that were “so radicalised that the police were afraid for their lives”. A claim that was completely rejected by Cameron, Johnson and the metropolitan police themselves.
As of the time of this articles publication, the British government has yet to give its formal response to the petition and the parliamentary debate has yet to be scheduled, both are expected within the next few days. However improbable it may seem, Donald J Trump could find himself unable to travel to one of America’s key allies. He hasn’t even gotten the GOP nomination yet, let alone won the Presidency, and he is already showing himself to be one of the worst international diplomats in US history.