Petition to cease Donald Trump state go to to UK skyrockets to 70,000 signatures
An invitation from King Charles III to US President, Donald Trump has been met with dismay from disgruntled Brits who have launched a petition against it.
Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer handed Trump a written invitation from the King on Thursday (February 27) when the pair met in the Oval Office of the White House. The letter invited Trump to undertake an “unprecedented” second state visit later this year.
As he handed it over the letter, Sir Keir said: “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 accepted the invitation immediately, meanwhile, but since then a petition launched by the Stop Trump Coalition has reached 70,000 signatures (as of 11am, March 2).The petition is titled: “Cancel Trump’s state visit.”
And it simply reads: “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 The offer of a state visit should be rescinded.”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 it in a video in which she said it was “so fun” watching the number of signatures “tick along”. She continued, explaining that the petition was established following the “absolute scenes” in which Trump treated Ukraine president, Volodymyr Zelensky.
Zoe added: “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 ben fighting for three years against awful aggression.
“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 urging others to sign the petition, hundreds of TikTok user responded in support, one of whom penned: “Signed. Be back in the UK in a couple of weeks and be more than happy to join any protests.”
A second wrote: “Signed. Someone should also set up one on the parliament website to trigger a parliamentary debate about it.” A third person added: “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 suggested: “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 2017, a petition to parliament to try and prevent Trump’s first state visit amassed 1,863,708 signatures.
