US PRESIDENT DONALD Trump has cancelled a planned brief visit to London.
Trump had been planned to visit the UK next month to attend the opening of a new embassy but he announced on Twitter last night that he would now not be attending.
Large scale protests had been planned for greet the arrival of Trump but the US President did not mention this as a reason for cancelling the visit.
He said the change was because of the connection of the Obama administration to the new embassy site, tweeting:
Reason I cancelled 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!
While Trump claimed that the Obama administration sold the location, Bloomberg reports that the decision to move the embassy was made under George W. Bush in 2008.
It’s not been confirmed as yet who will attend in Trump’s absence but it’s likely to be Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.
Trump was invited to the UK for a state visit by UK Prime Minister Theresa May but there have been loud objections to such a visit and no date has been set.
Despite this, as recently as last week May reiterated that a state visit is still planned, saying “Trump is coming to the UK.”
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