Donald Trump retweeted a handful of anti-Muslim videos posted by the deputy leader of a British far-right group, prompting a rare condemnation of the US president by Theresa May whose official spokesperson called Trump’s actions wrong.
One of the videos Trump highlighted to his 43.6 million Twitter followers from the feed of Jaydan Fransen of Britain First purported to show a group of Muslims pushing a boy off a roof. Another claimed to show a Muslim destroying a statue of the Virgin Mary, and a third claimed to show a Muslim immigrant hitting a Dutch boy on crutches.
The credibility of the last video was immediately undermined when the the Dutch embassy in the US said the perpetrator of the violent act in the video was born and raised in the Netherlands.
The US president retweeted the videos without comment, before turning to more familiar territory, suggesting a boycott of “Fake News CNN”, celebrating the level of the stock market, and commenting on the firing of NBC anchor Matt Lauer.
Trump’s decision to share the tweets was labelled “abhorrent, dangerous and a threat to our country” by the Labour party leader, Jeremy Corbyn, while several other members of parliament said his planned state visit should be cancelled.
Fransen, 31, is deputy leader of Britain First, a minor anti-Islam party with an estimated 1,000 followers that has had no electoral success. Fransen lost her deposit when she stood for parliament in a 2014 byelection, receiving just 56 votes.
She has been charged with using threatening or abusive language following an appearance at a far-right rally in Belfast this summer. She is due to appear at a Belfast court next month.
Theresa May’s spokesman said on Wednesday: “Britain First seeks to divide communities by their use of hateful narratives that peddle lies and stoke tensions. They cause anxiety to law-abiding people. British people overwhelmingly reject the prejudiced rhetoric of the far right which is the antithesis of the values this country represents, decency, tolerance and respect.”
But despite criticising Trump, No 10 rejected calls from Labour MPs, including David Lammy and Chuka Umunna, to revoke the US president’s invitation to pay a state visit to Britain. May’s spokesman said: “The invitation for a state visit has been extended and accepted. Further details will be announced in due course.”
Sajid Javid, the only Muslim cabinet minister, tweeted:
So POTUS has endorsed the views of a vile, hate-filled racist organisation that hates me and people like me. He is wrong and I refuse to let it go and say nothing
— Sajid Javid (@sajidjavid) November 29, 2017
Britain First was deregistered by the Electoral Commission this month after it failed to pay a routine £25 fee, which means it cannot place candidates on ballot papers under the party name.
Thomas Mair, who murdered the Batley and Spen MP Jo Cox one week before the EU referendum in 2016, shouted “Britain first!” when he fired his gun. Cox’s widower, Brendan, said on Wednesday that Trump “should be ashamed of himself”.
He accused Trump of spreading hatred and trying to legitimise the far right in Britain.
Trump has legitimised the far right in his own country, now he’s trying to do it in ours. Spreading hatred has consequences & the President should be ashamed of himself.
— Brendan Cox (@MrBrendanCox) November 29, 2017
Justin Welby, the archbishop of Canterbury, described Trump’s decision to share the tweets as “deeply disturbing” and urged him to make a statement “to make clear his opposition to racism and hatred in all forms”.
I join the urgent call for President @realDonaldTrump to remove his Britain First retweets and make clear his opposition to racism and hatred. https://t.co/JosYO7vwEG pic.twitter.com/v66KQVtWQq
— Justin Welby ن (@JustinWelby) November 29, 2017
Fransen was delighted with the attention, which prompted her Twitter following to grow by more than 10,000. “Thanks for the retweets @realDonaldTrump,” she said. “I’m facing prison for criticising Islam. Britain is now Sharia compliant, I need your help!”
The White House press secretary, Sarah Sanders, dismissed concerns about the credibility of the videos, telling reporters: “Whether it’s a real video, the threat is real. [Trump’s] goal is to promote strong border security and strong national security.”
She added: “The threat is real, the threat needs to be addressed and the threat has to be talked about and that’s what the president is doing in bringing that up.”
Q&AWho are Britain First?
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Britain First is an Islamophobic group run by convicted racists. It was founded in 2011 by former members of the far-right British National Party (BNP) and loyalist extremists in Northern Ireland.
It organises mosque invasions where followers, often dressed in paramilitary uniforms, raid multicultural areas in the UK.
The group has an influential presence on Facebook and actively uses social media to publicise anti-Islamic material.
Its leader, Paul Golding, a former BNP councillor, and his deputy Jayda Fransen have been arrested several times.
Fransen was found guilty in November 2016 of religiously aggravated harassment after she hurled abuse at a Muslim woman wearing a hijab. A month later Golding was jailed for eight weeks for breaching a court order banning him from entering a mosque.
Rightwing terrorist Thomas Mair shouted “Britain first” before killing the MP Jo Cox during the EU referendum campaign in 2016.
The Islamophobic videos were originally tweeted by Fransen on Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning before being picked up by Trump. They were not sequentially posted, meaning the president would have had to scroll through her timeline before picking out which videos to retweet.
The Muslim Council of Britain had urged the prime minister to distance herself from Trump over the comments. In a statement the umbrella body for British Muslims said: “This is the clearest endorsement yet from the US president of the far-right and their vile anti-Muslim propaganda. We cannot give such bigotry a free pass.”
Trump has often used his Twitter account to promote dubious figures. Earlier this week, he highlighted a website called MagaPill which promotes a variety of conspiracies. He has also used his account to retweet a Mussolini quote, to share a post from the account @whitegenocidetm and to circulate false and racially inflammatory crime statistics.
When asked in 2015, he said that he considered retweets endorsements. “You know, I retweet, I retweet for a reason.”
Additional reporting by Jon Henley and Daniel Boffey
