Theresa May has insisted she is not “afraid” to tell Donald Trump he is wrong when the new president says or does something that is “unacceptable”.
The prime minister confirmed this morning that she will meet Trump in the White House on Friday. May will be the first foreign leader to meet the new president since his he took office last week.
On Saturday there were worldwide protests, including in London, aimed at Trump for his attitude towards women. During the presidential campaign he was revealed to have boasted about sexually assault.
Appearing on the BBC’s Andrew Marr programme, May said her very presence as a female world leader would send a message to Trump. However she avoided committing her self to raising the issue of women’s rights directly with the president.
“I’ve already said that some of the comments Donald Trump has made in relation to women are unacceptable. Some of those he himself has apologised for,” she said.
“When I sit down I think the biggest statement that will be made about the role of women is that I will be there as a female prime minister, prime minister of the UK, talking to him.
“I’ve got a track record, if you look at everything I’ve done in terms of defending the interests of women, the work I’ve done on modern slavery, on domestic violence and so forth.”
“I will be talking to Donald Trump about the issues that we share, about how we can build on the special relationship - it’s the special relationship that also enables us to say where we find things unacceptable.
May added: “Whenever there is something I find unacceptable I won’t be afraid to say that to Donald Trump.”
On Saturday, President Trump’s first full day in office, he gave a speech at CIA headquarters in which he lied about the size of the crowd at his inauguration and falsely claimed that he had never feuded with the US intelligence community.
Hours later, his press secretary emerged from the West Wing, lied about the size of the inaugural crowd and took no questions. “This was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration, period, both in person and around the globe,” White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer claimed, falsely, Saturday evening.