U.S. President Donald Trump pulled few punches in a press conference with Prime Minister Theresa May, branding Britain’s hard-left opposition leader a “negative force”.
Official opposition party Labour’s leader Jeremy Corbyn made a show of refusing to attend a state banquet for President Trump — despite having cheerfully attended one for China’s communist dictator — and today gave a speech to an anti-Trump rally in which he complained about the American leader criticising London mayor Sadiq Khan “on the wonderful [Islamic] festival of Eid”.
Journalists asked the President what he thought about Mr Corbyn having defended Khan and “criticised your record on refugees”.
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On the subject of Mayor Khan, who branded Mr Trump “far right” and compared him to a “20th-century fascist” before the President hit back, he remained unequivocal: “I think he’s been a not very good mayor, from what I understand. He’s done a poor job, crime is up, lotta problems,” he stated bluntly.
“I don’t think he should be criticising a representative of the United States that can do so much good for the United Kingdom,” he added.
“He should be positive, not negative. He’s a negative force, not a positive force, and if you look at what he said he hurts the people of this great country, and I think he should actually focus on his job; it would be a lot better if he did that, he could straighten out some of the problems that he has, and probably some of the problems that he’s caused,” he added.
PICTURES: London Protesters’ ‘Trump Blimp’ Soars to… Eye Level https://t.co/4dP227VQbd
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) June 4, 2019
Perhaps more interestingly, he revealed that while Mr Corbyn made hay with his public refusal to attend the state banquet for Mr Trump, he still sough a private meeting with the American leader — but was himself rejected.
“He wanted to meet with me and I told him no,” the President said.
“I don’t know Jeremy Corbyn, never met him, never spoke to him. He wanted to meet today or tomorrow and I decided I would not do that,” he continued.
“I think he is, from where I come from, somewhat of a negative force; I think that people should look to do things correctly as opposed to criticise. I really don’t like critics as much as I like and respect people that get things done — so I’ve decided not to meet [him], he explained.
The President also indicated that he had seen many supporters “waving the American flag, waving the [British] flag” and commended the “tremendous spirit” and “love” between the United States and the United Kingdom — the country of his mother’s births — and appeared to dismiss the protests against him as exaggerated, “put in for political reasons [and] fake news.”
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