Wednesday 5 June 2019

Trump Just The Latest Unsavoury Character In The UK

Theresa May has quite rightly been getting it in the neck for inviting Donald Trump over for a full state visit but he is the latest in a long line of unsavoury characters the Queen has been asked to entertain by the Government of the day.
In 1971 Japan's Emperor Hirohito was invited over for the full package which as the Japanese wartime head of state, didn't go down with angry veterans and former British prisoners of war, who joined the thousands whistling the Second World War march, Colonel Bogey, as he passed by in the horse drawn carriage.
Romania's Nicolae Ceausescu came for the visit in 1978 and the Queen even gave him an honoury knighthood although she admitted to trying her best to spend as little time with him as possible during the trip.
Japan's Emperor Akihito came over in 1998, the son of Emperor Hirohito, was treated to protesters turning their backs on him as he passed by in the carriage down the Mall which is not as bad as the protester who threw himself in front of Russia's President Putin's motorcade when he was given the full regal treatment in 2003.
The US President George W Bush followed Putin to Buckingham Palace in 2003 which was really bad timing as the Iraq War demonstrations were in full swing and tens of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets to protest against the war, including an effigy of Mr Bush being toppled in Trafalgar Square. Eggs were thrown at the presidential cavalcade and £5m of extra security was drafted in.
Protesters followed around Chinese President Hu Jintao during his turn in 2005 although the Government did there best to block the leader seeing protesters by ordering police vans be lined in front of them although they never tried it when King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia came over and he was greeted by a line of demonstrators all the way down the Mall.  
The Chinese President Xi Jinping was here in 2015 and he was treated to running battles between human rights protesters and Chinese supporters during Xi's procession to Buckingham Palace, the carriage avoiding a protester who sat in the road.
So Britain has a history of inviting over some of the World's worst leaders and i'm sure there will be more after Trump, especially as we will need the business after Brexit.

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