A senior Labour MP has joined mounting calls for King Charles’s visit to the US to be delayed due to worsening relations between the UK and Donald Trump’s administration.
The US president hit out once again at Sir Keir Starmer on Monday, saying he is “not happy” over his response to the outbreak of war in the Middle East.
The so-called special relationship has been strained in recent weeks, prompting fears the ill will could overshadow the King’s visit to the US, rumoured to be planned for the end of next month.
On Monday, chair of the foreign affairs committee Dame Emily Thornberry added to calls for the trip to be delayed, to avoid it going ahead “against the backdrop of war”.
“If it was to go ahead next month – the dates haven’t been confirmed, but everybody seems to think it’s going to be next month – it would go ahead against a backdrop of a war and that, I think, is quite difficult. And the last thing that we want to do is to have their Majesties embarrassed,” she told BBC Radio 4.
“I don’t know what the discussions are. I don’t know what the programme would involve, but I think it needs to be thought through very carefully as to whether it’s appropriate to go ahead now or maybe have a limited programme or delay it.”
Pressed on whether she believes the visit should be delayed, she said: “I suspect it would be safer to delay it, but I don’t know the details.”
King Charles has played a vital role in easing relations between the UK and Mr Trump, with the US president’s second state visit last year having been seen as a broad success.
The upcoming state visit would coincide with the 250th anniversary of the signing of the US declaration of independence, the first by a British monarch since Queen Elizabeth II accepted an invitation from George W Bush in 2007.
Dame Emily’s comments come after Ed Davey also called for the upcoming state visit to be called off last week.
Downing Street has previously reiterated that the visit has not yet been confirmed, but the Liberal Democrat leader said Mr Trump should not be afforded “yet another huge diplomatic coup” after launching what he called “an illegal war” on Iran.
Donald Trump unleashed yet more vitriol directed at the prime minister on Monday, saying he is “not happy” with Sir Keir after he rejected the US president’s calls to send warships to the Strait of Hormuz.
Sir Keir said on Monday the UK “will not be drawn into the wider war”, as the UK and other Nato countries’ refusal to send warships to protect oil supplies in the key route was met by veiled threats from Mr Trump.
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