John Bercow, the Speaker of the House of Commons, is very firmly against President Donald Trump addressing Parliament when he makes a state visit to Britain later in the year. When he denounced Trump and said he would not allow him into Westminster Hall, he was met with uproarious applause and cheers from MPs.
During his long speech scathing Trump, Bercow said that the House of Commons for which he is the voice is a supporter of equality and an independent judiciary, hence its opposition to Trump. Bercow made the statement after Labour MP Steve Doughty besought a Commons motion asking the authorities of Parliament to hold back its allowances.
Trump has no right to speak at the House
In response to Doughty’s plea, Bercow reminded the House that foreign world leaders do not have a given right to a Parliamentary address; it is instead something that is earned through respectable politics and a good, friendly relationship with our nation. He reminded MPs that “many precedents” are in place so that state visits by world leaders don’t necessarily contain “an address to both Houses of Parliament.”
Bercow added that when it comes to Westminster Hall, where the address would be expected to take place, “there are three key holders...the Speaker of the House of Commons (him), the Speaker of the House of Lords, and the Lord Great Chamberlain.” He said that in usual cases, they go by popular opinion and use the hall only if all three key holders agree to it.
Bercow also said that while the MPs have “strong views about this matter on either side of the argument,” he personally is “strongly opposed to an address by President Trump in Westminster Hall.” He then reiterated himself, saying that, following Trump’s travel ban, which prevented travellers and migrants with visas and other valid travel documents from seven countries with mostly Muslim populations and was recently overthrown by a federal judge, now Bercow is “even more strongly opposed to an address by President Trump in Westminster Hall.”
