Theresa May delivers stinging rebuke to Donald Trump over far-right retweets - Telegraph

Theresa May delivers stinging rebuke to Donald Trump over far-right retweets

Kate McCann, senior political correspondent

30 NOVEMBER 2017 • 1:59PM

Theresa May has issued a stinging rebuke to President Donald Trump over his decision to tweet far-right propaganda, warning the UK takes the threat of such groups very seriously and is not afraid to stand up to the US.

Speaking in Jordan the Prime Minister said none of her Cabinet ministers would ever repeat messages posted by Britain First, just days after the President did.

It came as it emerged that Sir Kim Darroch, the British Ambassador to the US, has contacted the White House to raise the issue of the tweets.

Doing nothing to disguise her frustration and at times verging on anger, Mrs May denounced the group as a "hateful organisation" which "seeks to spread mistrust and division within our communities".

It is the first time the Prime Minister has spoken about Mr Trump's tweets, in which he repeated right-wing anti-Muslim propaganda and criticised Mrs May for saying he was wrong to do so.

Mrs May was told about the controversial remarks made by the President directly about her by aides last night.

They took her to one side to explain the controversy just as the engines on the C-130 Hercules transport plane took off from Iraq.

Asked about the threat of right-wing groups like Britain First and whether by retweeting their messages Mr Trump is enabling them to gain legitimacy, Mrs May said: "I think that we must all take seriously the threat that far-Right groups pose and both in terms of the terrorist threat that is posed by those groups and the necessity of dealing with extremist material which is far-Right as well.

“I have commented in the past on issues in the United States on this matter. “In the United Kingdom we take the far-Right very seriously and that is why we ensure that we deal with these threats and this extremism wherever it comes and whatever its source.”

And she warned the UK will not be afraid to rebuke America, despite the so-called special relationship, when she feels Mr Trump has got something wrong.

"The fact that we work together does not mean that we are afraid to say when we think the United States have got it wrong and be very clear with them," she said. Mrs May added: “I am very clear that retweeting from Britain First was the wrong thing to do.”

Mrs May remained tight lipped on the issue of a possible state visit, refusing to say it could be cancelled and instead stating simply than an invite has been extended and accepted by the President."

Asked if she would sack one of her own Cabinet Ministers if they tweeted videos like those cited by Mr Trump she said she has "absolute confidence" that her ministers "would not be retweeting material from Britain First".