US President Donald Trump will now not open the new $1bn US embassy next month in London amid fears of mass protests.
US President Donald Trump has cancelled a visit to Britain amid fears he won’t be welcome.
Trump had been due to visit London to open the new $1bn embassy, but was said to have abandoned the idea after learning about the arrangements made and the fact he would not be able to meet the Queen.
Instead, Secretary of state Rex Tillerson will be sent for the opening.
In January 2017 whilst visiting the Oval Office, British Prime Minister Theresa May invited the President to an official state visit.
With activists pledging to stage mass protests and Members of Parliament determined not to give the president the opportunity to address the House of Commons, a date for the state visit was never set.
Typically during UK state visits, Queen Elizabeth II acts as the official host.
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) 12 January 2018
Trump confirmed on Twitter late on Thursday night that the trip was cancelled.
“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,” he wrote just before midnight local time.
“Bad deal. Wanted me to cut ribbon-NO!”
Many news outlets have debunked Trump’s claim that former president, Barrack Obama, was behind the decision to sell the embassy.
A press release dated October 2008 – one month before Obama was elected president – details plans to move the embassy south of the river Thames.
The decision to relocate the building was made by the Bush administration.
The previous US embassy was located at Grosvenor Square, in the upscale district of Mayfair.
The “off location” new embassay is in Vauxhall, a mixed commercial and residential district of southwest London in the borough of Lambeth.
Relations with the President hit a low late last year when Prime Minister May criticised his decision to retweet material posted by a British far right extremist group.
Trump responded by tweeting directly to the Prime Minister that she should focus on tackling domestic terrorism.
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