MPs call for Donald Trump to be DENIED speech at historic Westminster Hall on state visit

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Donald Trump may not be afforded the honour of addressing Westminster Hall

Commons speaker John Bercow is said to be concerned about the number of MPs calling for the President to be denied a Parliamentary address in the wake of the Muslim Ban and his views on women and torture.

Mr Bercow is one of three people who will decide where the president will make his speech if and when he arrives in the UK this summer.

And after almost one in four MPs signed a statement calling for President Trump to be refused a speech, the three-man organising committee is considering using the 19th-century Royal Gallery instead, the Telegraph reported.

The motion is being led by Stephen Doughty, Labour MP for Cardiff South and Penarth.

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He told the Telegraph: “There are many MPs, both back and front benchers, young and old, women and men, across parties who do not think it would be appropriate for Donald Trump to be given this honour.

“It would be great news and a victory for the standards and principles of Parliament were an address in Westminster Hall not to go ahead.”

The move is likely to rile the combustible Trump, who is said to want his visit accorded as much pomp and circumstance as possible.

Westminster Hall is Parliament’s oldest building, and has played a central role in British political history.

It was built in 1097 under King William II, the son of William the Conqueror, and where Oliver Cromwell took his oath as Lord Protector in 1653.

Prime Ministers William Gladstone and Winston Churchill, King George V and the Queen Mother all lay in state there.

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Westminster Hall is Parliament's oldest building

It would be great news and a victory for the standards and principles of Parliament were an address in Westminster Hall not to go ahead

MP Stephen Doughty

Only a select few global figures have been given the honour of speaking inside its hallowed walls – including Queen Elizabeth II, Charles de Gaulle, Nelson Mandela, and Pope Benedict XVI.

But what is most likely to annoy Trump is the fact his predecessor, Barack Obama, became the first US President to address both Houses of Parliament in Westminster Hall during his state visit in 2011.

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Barack Obama became the first US President to adress both Houses at Westminster Hall in 2011

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Trump is said to want to go 'one better' than Barack Obama's state visit in 2011

Trump is said to want to go “one better” than Obama’s visit, and is believed to have set out a list of typically flamboyant demands ahead of his arrival, the date of which is yet to be confirmed.

They reportedly include playing golf with the Queen at Balmoral, dinner at Blenheim Palace, where Winston Churchill was born, and tea at Buckingham Palace.

An address to both Houses of Parliament in Westminster Hall was also said to be on the itinerary.

The prospect of Trump’s very presence in Britain sparked nationwide protests this week, as demonstrators called for Theresa May not to invite the billionaire for a state visit after he banned people from seven Muslim nations from entering the US.

Should his speech be moved to the Royal Gallery, he would still find himself in illustrious company.

The Queen, Ronald Regan, Boris Yeltsin, Bill Clinton and Kofi Annan have all spoken there.

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