Trump cancels UK trip over ‘bad’ new embassy

London, January 12 

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Donald Trump has cancelled a ‘working visit’ to the UK planned for next month to officially launch a new US embassy, blaming a ‘bad deal’ struck by the previous Obama-administration to relocate the base from central London to an ‘off location’.

The cancellation is a further blow to relations between the allies. More than a year into his presidency, Trump has yet to visit London, with many Britons vowing to protest against a man they see as crude, volatile and opposed to their values on a range of issues.

“(The) reason I cancelled my trip to London is that I am not a big fan of the Obama Administration having sold perhaps the best located and finest embassy in London for ‘peanuts,’ only to build a new one in an off location for $1.2 billion,” Trump said in a tweet late on Thursday. “Bad deal. Wanted me to cut ribbon-NO!” Trump said.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will now step in for the launch of the new embassy site, which will open to staff on January 16.

The decision to acquire a new London embassy site on the south bank of the Thames was announced in 2008 under George W. Bush along with the plans to put the old Grosvenor Square site in upscale Mayfair up for sale.

A pillar of Britain’s foreign policy since World War Two, the so-called “special relationship” with Washington has taken on added importance as Britain prepares to leave the European Union in 2019 and seeks new major trade deals.

Prime Minister Theresa May was the first foreign leader to visit Trump after his inauguration in January last year, and they were filmed emerging from the White House holding hands. She later said Trump took her hand in a gentlemanly gesture as they walked down a ramp.

But British officials have been dismayed by some of Trump’s pronouncements, particularly a proposed ban on Muslims entering the US and most recently when Trump rebuked May on Twitter after she criticised him for retweeting British far-right anti-Islam videos.

May’s spokesman said Trump was welcome in London and that the invitation to visit had been accepted, although no date agreed. — Agencies