Saturday 4 February 2017

On the Sunday Politics tomorrow on President Trump, Brexit, the Darlington NHS, and the Copeland by election. 11:30 in the north. My thoughts on Trump and his policies set out below.

On the issue of President Trump the PM has made the governments view very clear last week at Prime Ministers Questions:
"I have made it very clear that we believe that this policy is divisive and wrong, and that it is not a policy that we would introduce. I have also made it very clear when asked about this that this Government have a very different approach to these issues. On refugees, this Government have a proud record of the support that we have given to them, and long may it continue."
She added on Wednesday that 
"On the policy that President Trump has introduced, this Government are clear that it is wrong. We would not do it. In six years as Home Secretary, I never introduced such a policy. We believe it is divisive and wrong. If the right hon. Gentleman is asking me whether I had advance notice of the ban on refugees, the answer is no. If he is asking me if I had advance notice that the Executive order could affect British citizens, the answer is no. If he is asking if I had advance notice of the travel restrictions, the answer is, we all did, because President Trump said in his election campaign that he was going to do this. The question is how you respond. The job of Government is not to chase the headlines; the job of Government is not to take to the streets in protest; the job of Government is to protect the interests of British citizens, and that is exactly what we did."

For my part, I do not believe that it is in the UK interests to block out or ignore the new President. We do not influence him if we do not engage. We may not like his policies but he was elected by the USA in a democratic election. We have to work with him, both in our national interest, and as part of organisations like NATO, as we have to work with countries and other leaders.