As if the universe believed Theresa May hadn’t squirmed in her figurative seat enough by now, what with each remaining member of her disintegrating cabinet eyeing up her Tory crown and all, the stars aligned such that Trump ended up retweeting a handful of videos from the oh-so-patriotic movement Britain First. These videos proclaim to show such events as a Muslim migrant ‘beating up a Dutch boy on crutches’ (the attacker wasn’t at all a Muslim or a migrant, but the threat exists so that makes lying okay) and Muslims destroying a statue of the Virgin Mary. Oh boy.
Who are Britain First? Essentially they’re the remnants of the British National Party, or BNP (remember them?), formed in 2011 and currently fronted by leader Paul Golding and his deputy Jayda Fransen. They adore traditional British culture (whatever that is) and abhor what they perceive to be the “Islamisation of the United Kingdom” (whatever that means). Fransen tweeted out these videos as part of Britain First’s propaganda campaign, and Trump in his very presidential use of social media somehow saw them (he doesn’t follow anybody from Britain First itself, however he does follow right-wing pundit Ann Coulter who does) and decided that it would be appropriate to retweet blatantly Islamophobic content from one of his nation’s closest allies. I have to admit, I’ve never witnessed somebody more able to cause so much furore in so little time.
No points for guessing how British politicians reacted. The Prime Minister may not have matched any of Trump’s bravado, yet she did issue a statement from Jordan which condemned his actions about as much as she could feasibly get away with (it’s depressingly likely that we will be somewhat reliant on the US for trade and recognition post-Brexit). Meanwhile, members of her cabinet have been exploiting their lower profiles to be a tad harsher – take Sajid Javid, the Communities Secretary, who accused the President of endorsing Britain First through these retweets. Mentions of safeguarding the beloved “special relationship” across the Atlantic, popping up in statements from the likes of Theresa May and Justine Greening, were glaringly absent from Mr Javid’s reaction.
Again, no points for working out how Trump reacted to this backlash. He told them (in effect) to shut up via a tweet to Theresa May (not necessarily the correct Theresa May, in typical Trump fashion). “Don’t focus on me” – I wish it were so simple, Mr President, I really do.
Just for good measure, the very same Jayda Fransen that tweeted out these videos of dubious reliability was arrested a few days before this chaos in Belfast. Nothing new, of course, Britain First’s members (especially Golding and Fransen) are regularly arrested for hate speech and religious harassment, proving that if somebody believes something strongly enough it is near-impossible to show them they’re wrong.
What happens now? It’ll probably blow over and be forgotten by this time next week, when Kim Jong-Un and Trump resume their blustering battle of bizarrely obscure insults, or some CNN anchor or other says something nasty about Trump. Having said that, this ordeal has been and will continue to be a significant diplomatic challenge for the already-struggling government; even if Trump forgets about this when he next smashes out another bombshell of a tweet, our politicians may still be wrestling to get this one under control.
Having said all this, of course, Trump’s White House combined with Brexit negotiations has proven itself to be the most potent source of shattered dreams and waking nightmares, so anything could happen by this time next week. Remember, every episode of this toxic fusion is yet another episode we’ll have to explain to the grandchildren.