Donald Trump: British Parliament Debates Banning GOP Candidate From Country

There’s no denying that reality TV star turned GOP presidential hopeful Donald Trump is controversial. He’s had a lot of big political ideas that have been labeled “hate speech” by his opponents, and while Trump leads in the GOP polls, he’s got a lot of dissenters, even among his own party. Today, though, he’s getting attention on an unprecedented scale, even for Donald Trump.

Today, January 18, CNN reports that “The Donald” Trump is being discussed openly by the British Parliament and not lightly. During today’s session, members of Britain’s Parliament are seriously discussing a petition that demands Trump be banned from entering the country based on the “hate speech” and rhetoric he’s continually spouting during campaign rallies and media interviews.

The petition to ban Donald Trump from Britain was started online by Suzanne Kelly, a Scottish political activist and freelance journalist last month. So far, it has received over 574,000 signatures. Kelly’s petition to ban Donald Trump from entering Britain was a direct response to his call to ban Muslim travelers from entering the United States, a call that Kelly designated as hate speech.

The current 574,000-plus signatures on the petition are more than enough to bring the matter of banning Donald Trump from Britain before Parliament. It takes a mere 100,000 signatures for a petition to be debated by Parliament’s Petitions Committee. It is this committee that votes on whether or not a specific petition should be sent to the lawmakers of the full Parliament for debate.

Donald Trump supporters in the U.S. and around the world have taken to social media to express their displeasure at the idea of a travel ban for the businessman-turned-potential politician.

@RaheemKassam This debate is filled with ban-crazy offended crybabies who are called 'MPs'. I hope this is a minority. #BanTrump

— CommandJampot (@Com_Jam_Pot) January 18, 2016

Unfortunately for Suzanne Kelly and her over half-a-million signatories, it seems highly unlikely that this petition to ban Donald Trump from Britain will ever make it that far. Indeed, no vote is planned following today’s debate. The discussion regarding whether or not to ban Trump from Britain will likely go no further. However, it does appear that British lawmakers are using the opportunity to air their personal grievances about Donald Trump in a venue that protects them from being sued for defamation and/or slander.

It’s also worth noting that the debate, which began at the UK Parliament’s Westminster Hall at 4:30 p.m. local time (11.30 a.m. EST), will also address a counter petition not to ban Donald Trump from Britain. The counter petition, created by David Gladwin, has only managed to collect 40,000 signatures, less than 10 percent of the original petition to ban Donald Trump from Britain’s shores.

“Leave the decision making on appropriate responses to the Americans. (Let’s) mind our own business.”

BBC News reports that the petition to ban Donald Trump has precedent. The creator states that the UK has “banned entry to many individuals for hate speech” and that the rules must be “fairly applied to the rich as well as poor.”

The Labour Party’s Paul Flynn opened the Donald Trump ban debate by stating that the petition to ban Trump should not be ignored because doing so would be ignoring the “public [who] was speaking with such a loud voice.” He went on to clarify that today’s debate was not meant to disrespect the United States or its citizens.

Despite the public support for a ban on Donald Trump in Britain, Flynn spoke of a wariness of turning Trump into some kind of victim or even a martyr for his cause and/or among his supporters.

“The great danger by attacking this one man is that we can fix on him a halo of victimhood. We give him the role of martyrdom which can seem to be an advantage among those who support him.”

Tulip Siddiq, another Labour MP, clearly supports the idea of banning Donald Trump despite the potential political and diplomatic headaches such a decision might cause, particularly if Trump is able to secure the U.S. presidency in November’s General Election.

“I draw the line with freedom of speech when it actually imports violent ideology which is what I feel is happening. The legislation exists to protect the public and the people of Britain from individuals such as this. If other people have been stopped from coming into the country the same rules need to apply to Donald Trump.”

Both Prime Minister David Cameron and opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn had come out in opposition of banning Donald Trump from Britain. Rather, the unlikely pair agrees that it would be more productive to try to win Trump over to the ideas of diversity and tolerance by encouraging him to visit the island nation.

For Donald Trump’s part, he’s threatened to hit the United Kingdom directly in the wallet if he’s banned from entering the country. The Donald owns several assets in Scotland, including the Turnberry golf course. He’s threatened to cancel £700 million worth of planned investments should his free travel to and from Britain be revoked.

While there is no vote planned following today’s debate, it is worth noting that the UK home secretary does have the authority to ban anyone from entering Britain on national security grounds. This includes those thought to be likely to “incite racial hatred” and those deemed not to be “conducive to the public good.”

The current home secretary, conservative Theresa May, had banned over 200 people since 2010 based on numbers released in 2015. May has declined to comment regarding the likelihood of Donald Trump being among those on the ban list in the future.

[Photo by Chip Somodevillia/Getty Images]