UK legal academics urge PM to cancel Donald Trump’s state visit

Theresa May has been urged by 250 legal academics to cancel Donald Trump’s state visit and scale back Britain’s support for the US until he reverses his positions on immigration, refugees, torture, climate change and judicial independence.

The letter signed by law scholars from universities such as Cambridge, Kent, Warwick, Birmingham, and a range of institutions in London expresses “collective dismay” at the prime minister’s decision to align the UK government with the Trump administration.

It also warns that May’s strategy of a close relationship with the US president will cause suffering and end badly, given his disregard for the law and discriminatory policies.

They wrote: “The alacrity with which Trump has put in place, by presidential decree, a swathe of openly racist, xenophobic, misogynistic and homophobic measures, together with the president’s total disregard for existing US commitments under international law, indicate that the British government’s decision to renew its ‘special relationship’ with the United States at this time can only lead, in the short-term, to further suffering and discrimination.

“We can only hope that this self-serving programme will, in the long-term, set in motion a demand for real change that governments and communities across the world will be forced to answer.”

The letter ends by calling on No 10 “not only to cancel Trump’s invitation to visit the UK but also, and more fundamentally, to withdraw the support of the British government for the United States more generally until these indefensible policies have been reversed and disavowed.

“If you do not, we fear that the United Kingdom will find itself, like Trump, on the wrong side of history, with extremely worrying consequences for us all.”

The letter was organised by five academics at Kent University, and was signed by scores of legal professional staff, students and academics from other disciplines as well.

Dr Rose Parfitt, a lecturer at Kent Law School, said there was widespread concern among members of the community responsible for teaching and studying law in Britain.

“On the one hand, we wanted to call attention to the dangers of UK support for an administration that treats the law as an inconvenient restriction on its power,” she said. “But on the other hand, as people who spend every day thinking about law, we worry not only about what the law is but also about what it does. Many of Trump’s policies are troubling because they violate or undermine the law, but others are troubling because they enforce or expand the law.”

A second academic who helped draft the letter, Dr Emily Grabham, said she wanted May to be held to account for her “precipitous visit [to the US] and invitation to President Trump” but had worries more specifically in her role as a legal educator.

“We are in the process of teaching law students about the importance of legal process and deliberation in an open and democratic society,” she said. “President Trump’s behaviour, and the behaviour of his administration constantly undermines this, whilst scapegoating Muslims, Mexicans and women. We cannot as a country condone his extremely damaging actions. It is the very least that the PM can do to cancel his visit.”

A government spokesman, responding to the letter, said: “We are building a truly global Britain – the best friend and neighbour to our European partners, and a country that reaches beyond the borders of the European Union and goes out into the world to build relationships.

“We have a long-standing, strong and special relationship with the United States and where there are areas of disagreement the prime minister will continue to say so.”

Source: The Guardian