Donald Trump’s UK trip has seen pointed insults fly in all directions

DONALD Trump has not been shy of hitting out during his UK trip, first at Theresa May, and then at The Sun newspaper — but the Brits have responded with a few pointed insults of their own.

President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Theresa May hold hands at the conclusion of their joint news conference at Chequers, in Buckinghamshire on Friday. Picture: AP/Pablo Martinez Monsivais

DONALD Trump’s incendiary, two-day visit to England kicked off with a barb about Brexit, finished with a spectacular political backflip — and will probably end up being remembered most for the giant, orange-skinned baby blimp launched into the sky above Westminster.

While more than 100,000 people took to the streets of London chanting “Trump is not welcome here” on Friday, nearly 40 kilometres away, the President and First Lady met and shook hands with the Queen, resplendent in sky blue frock and hat, at Windsor Castle.

Amidst chants of “Dump Trump”, “We are pro America, just anti Trump”, young and old, men, women and children, straight and gay, filled Trafalgar Square “to capacity”, Metropolitan Police said.

PROTOCOL FAIL: Trump blunders when meeting the Queen

Trafalgar Square filled with anti-Trump protesters on Friday. Picture: AFP/Tolga Akmen

The atmosphere was amicable and peaceful: some wore rainbow coloured T-shirts depicting Mr Trump dressed as Mary Poppins although they were accompanied by the less kind chants of ‘Super-Callous-Fragile-Racist-Sexist-Nazi-PO-TUS’.

As the British capital filled with a sea of placards slamming Mr Trump’s policies on the separation of migrant children from their families and his behaviour toward women, the Queen smiled serenely as her American visitors inspected the picture-postcard Coldstream guards and later retired inside for afternoon tea.

The organisers of the so-called ‘baby Trump’ at Parliament Square said they were hoping to ready the blimp to follow Mr Trump to Scotland. The project had been conceived to speak “a language the President understands: personal insult”.

The Trump Blimp was designed to insult, its creators said.

Speaking earlier at a press conference after formal talks with Mrs May at Chequers, the British Prime Minister’s country residence, Mr Trump insisted the relationship between the two countries had reached “the highest level of special”.

His conciliatory comments shocked aides and the British and visiting American media as they came just hours after he publicly lambasted the British Prime Minister and her Brexit proposal while lavishing praise on her arch rival, Boris Johnson, in an interview published in the high circulation tabloid newspaper, The Sun.

“Fake news” he told the press conference: “I have a lot of respect for the Prime Minister. That story didn’t say the tremendous things I said about her,”

“I told The Sun this incredible woman is doing a great job. I got to know Theresa so much better this trip. Yesterday we had breakfast, lunch and dinner. She is doing a great job, Brexit is a tough job,” he added.

Donald Trump later walked back on his statements to The Sun.

Gamely carrying on: Prime Minister Theresa May. Picture: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

Standing awkwardly side-by-side at a lectern with the graceful 18th century walls of Winston Churchill’s birthplace behind them, Mr Trump also retracted his earlier statement that the post-Brexit UK-US trade deal was “off”.

However, he admitted that he had indeed given Mrs May “a suggestion, not advice” on how to manage the EU negotiations but that this “might have been too brutal for her”.

Presumably, the British media, conjectured, he had told her to ‘just walk away’ if she didn’t get her own way.

Brexit is an “incredible opportunity”, he insisted, and “whatever the UK does after it leaves the EU is okay with me”.

Theresa May and Donald Trump seal the ‘special relationship’ with a handshake. Picture: Getty Images/Jack Taylor

While Mrs May studiously ignored Mr Trump’s tirade against her in The Sun, London’s high circulation afternoon/commuter newspaper, The Evening Standard — now edited by a former Tory Chancellor, George Osborne — ran a front-page headline in its mid afternoon edition stating: ‘Fake News: We have a good relationship’ over a picture of the two leaders smiling uncomfortably.

And despite her stiff upper lip in the face of insult, Mrs May managed to firmly repudiate Mr Trump’s explosive comments that immigration has damaged the cultural fabric of Europe.

Asked about his views on the issue, Mr Trump said: “You have seen the damage done by terrorism. It is changing the culture. It is a very negative thing for Europe,” he said.

The Queen and US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump at Windsor Castle on Friday. Picture: MEGA TheMegaAgency.com

“It is not a very politically correct thing to say but it is not good for Europe, no good for the US either.”

Mrs May said the UK is proud of its immigration history and will continue to welcome people fleeing persecution and seeking new lives: “Immigration contributes to the economy and society overall. Immigration has been good for the UK,” she said.

“What is important is we have control of our borders and we can determine who comes to our country.”

The Guard of Honour wait prior to inspection by the Queen and Donald Trump at Windsor Castle. Picture: AFP/Brendan Smialowski

As the London rally continued peaceably into the night, protesters in Glasgow quietly took over the baton from London and began preparations for their own demonstrations as Mr and Mrs Trump flew into Scotland.

The next leg of their trip has been described as a ‘private weekend’ and will unfold at the Hotel Trump Turnberry, a luxury golfing resort in the south west.

Here however, they will not meet the political leadership: the Scottish First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, has decided to send her own protest message, tweeting she will spend her day leading a Pride march against homophobia.