“BULLY” Donald Trump should not be offered a state visit to Britain – and his “arsey” style of politics must go, Jo Swinson said yesterday.
The East Dunbartonshire MP took aim at the US President and his Brexiteer ally Nigel Farage as she addressed the LibDem conference.
The comments came as Swinson railed against right-wing politicians over human rights, women’s rights and climate change.
Referencing the controversy over Trump’s handling of the death of an anti-racism campaigner in Charlottesville, Virginia – in which he said there had been “good people” on the side of white supremacists – Swinson recalled several of the outcries that dogged his campaign and have marked the start of his term at the White House.
She said: “Trump is a bully, a misogynist and a racist. He boasts about sexually assaulting women.
“He cruelly mocked a reporter for his disability. He has rolled back trans rights. And for someone who makes much of being straight-talking, he won’t call a Nazi a Nazi.”
Turning to domestic affairs, she went on: “Yet the Conservative Government thinks it is right to offer Trump the honour of a state visit to the UK. They are wrong.
“It is a sign of our weakness in a Brexit world.
“How easily will our values be cast aside in our desperation to sign trade deals to avoid economic catastrophe.”
At the party’s conference in Bournemouth, Swinson – who ousted the SNP’s John Nicolson in East Dunbartonshire – said: “The politics of the bully is back. Human rights are trampled. Climate change is denied. Hate and division are spread like poison into society.”
The LibDem deputy leader pointed to situations in North Korea, Turkey and Burma as evidence of global instability and highlighted the regime in Venezuela, saying it “beggars belief that Jeremy Corbyn would rather defend a tenuous link to socialism than condemn these atrocities”.
On Brexit, she told delegates: “We are absolutely right to fight for an exit from Brexit. Brexit will make it harder to follow our values, to protect human rights, to tackle climate change, to solve global problems.
“An exit from Brexit is necessary, but not sufficient. Because this culture clash continues. And the populists stoke this tension. They do it deliberately. They talk in simple soundbites that scapegoat different groups. It’s all someone else’s fault.
“As liberals we know this is nonsense. The Faragey, Trumpy, angry, arsey, shouty slogans aren’t a solution to anything.
“But we do need to offer our own alternative solutions. We need to be much more radical, both in what we propose and in how we craft it.”
Calling on her party to help defeat populist politics, Swinson continued: “We need to get out of our own echo chamber and start bridging the divides in our communities. We need to bring people together to create the answers, leaving no room for the populists to sow their seeds of division.
“Creating the bold vision we need is bigger than any single political party. Indeed it’s bigger than party politics itself.
“We need to reach out and collaborate across society, with thinkers, activists, the young and the old, faith groups, trade unions, entrepreneurs – and with all of you who want to change the world.”
Meanwhile, Scottish LibDem leader Willie Rennie yesterday insisted he will lead Scotland one day.
When asked if he will become First Minister, while being interviewed on a television show yesterday, Rennie answered: “Of course.”
The comments come after party leader Vince Cable said he could become prime minister.
Rennie said: “People are fed up with the SNP, I can see a change coming in Scotland. The big question is what is going to come next.
“I’m ready for creating a new platform for the future.”
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