Donald Trump is a “racist” and a “sexual predator” who does not “deserve the honour” of a state visit, Emily Thornberry has said.
The US President is due to hold talks with Theresa May on Tuesday following his meeting with the Queen at Buckingham Palace yesterday.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4′s Today programme this morning, Thornberry said Trump was a “bully” who had to be stood up to.
“If you bow down in front of them you just get kicked harder,” the shadow foreign secretary said.
“The truth is he has tried to close borders with Muslim-majority countries, he is caging small Mexican children, he has grabbed women and boasted about it.
“He is a sexual predator, he is a racist and it’s right to say that – we need to think about when is it our country got so scared?”
Jeremy Corbyn is due to address the anti-Trump demonstration in central-London this morning.
The Labour leader, who refused an invitation to Monday evening’s state banquet, is due to be joined by other political parties including members of the Liberal Democrats and the Green Party.
Protests in Birmingham, Stoke, Sheffield, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Chester, Leicester, Oxford and Exeter are also planned.
The US leader said on Monday he had only seen “tremendous crowds of well wishers” and that he expected “fake news” would be “working hard” to find protesters.
Trump will hold talks with May in Downing Street, after which they will give a press conference.
In the evening, the president and First Lady Melania Trump will host a dinner at Winfield House – the official residence of Woody Johnson, the US ambassador to the UK – in Regent’s Park, which will be attended by Charles and Camilla, who will represent the Queen.