--- title: Donald Trump State Visit Petition Rejected By UK Government description: The U.K. government has responded to a petition calling for it to prevent President Donald Trump from making a state visit. canonical: https://time.com/4670284/donald-trump-petition-britain-queen/ author: Kate Samuelson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-02-14T12:22:25.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:03:14.524Z article:section: Politics og:title: UK Government Rejects President Trump's State Visit Petition og:description: "HM Government does not support this petition" og:url: https://time.com/4670284/donald-trump-petition-britain-queen/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt834117dfe377c7a6/6988ba42656a3fccaabcec6f/gettyimages-633265688.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3229 og:image:height: 1816 og:image:alt: President Trump Meets With British PM Theresa May At The White House og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: UK Government Rejects President Trump's State Visit Petition twitter:description: "HM Government does not support this petition" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt834117dfe377c7a6/6988ba42656a3fccaabcec6f/gettyimages-633265688.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Donald Trump State Visit to Go Ahead Despite Petition, U.K. Government Says > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=7be7693e-7c07-4e32-abd9-b1ebbcdb38a3&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: President Trump Meets with British Prime Minister May [Watch (HLS stream): President Trump Meets with British Prime Minister May](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/eJvkuFTj.m3u8) (2:10)  _Published 2017-01-27. As a candidate, Donald Trump called the North Atlantic Treaty Organization "obsolete." But as he stood next to British Prime Minister Theresa May Friday, she told the world that he was "100% behind" the alliance._ by [Kate Samuelson](https://time.com/author/kate-samuelson/) ## Kate Samuelson Feb 14, 2017 12:22 PM UTC  British Prime Minister Theresa May with U.S. President Donald Trump in The Oval Office at The White House on January 27, 2017 in Washington, DC. British Prime Minister Theresa May with U.S. President Donald Trump in The Oval Office at The White House on January 27, 2017 in Washington, DC. Christopher Furlong—Getty Images by [Kate Samuelson](https://time.com/author/kate-samuelson/) ## Kate Samuelson Feb 14, 2017 12:22 PM UTC The U.K. government has said that it believes [President Donald Trump](http://time.com/4668898/donald-trump-birmingham-visit-protests/) “should be extended the full courtesy of a state visit” and that it does not support a [petition](http://time.com/4666789/donald-trump-united-kingdom-theresa-may/) signed by more than 1.85 million people to bar him from an official visit. In a statement, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office explained that while the government “recognises the strong views expressed by the many signatories of this petition” it is rejecting the petition and will instead welcome President Trump “once dates and arrangements are finalised”. “During her visit to the United States on 27 January 2017, the Prime Minister, on behalf of Her Majesty the Queen, invited President Trump for a State Visit to the UK later this year. The invitation was accepted. This invitation reflects the importance of the relationship between the United States of America and the United Kingdom. At this stage, final dates have not yet been agreed for the State Visit,” the statement [reads](https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/171928?reveal%5Fresponse=yes#response-threshold). The petition allowed for Trump to enter the U.K. in his capacity as head of the U.S. government, but called for him not to be invited to make an official state visit because it would “cause embarrassment” to the Queen. “Donald Trump’s well documented misogyny and vulgarity disqualifies him from being received by Her Majesty the Queen or the Prince of Wales. Therefore during the term of his presidency Donald Trump should not be invited to the United Kingdom for an official State Visit,” it [reads](https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/171928?reveal%5Fresponse=yes#response-threshold). A [counter petition](https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/178844), called ‘Donald Trump should make a State Visit to the United Kingdom,’ has attracted more than 309,000 signatures. “Donald Trump should be invited to make an official State Visit because he is the leader of a free world and \[the\] U.K. is a country that supports free speech and does not believe that people that \[oppose\] our point of view should be gagged,” the description says. Both petitions will be debated by the House of Commons on Feb. 20. ## Transcript On defense and security cooperation, we're united in our recognition of NATO as the bull work of our collective defense. And today we reaffirmed our unshakeable commitment to this alliance. Mr. President I think you said, confirmed that you are 100 % behind NATO. But we're also discussing the importance of NATO continuing To ensure it is as quick to fight terrorism and cyber warfare, as it is to fight more conventional forms of war. As far as again Putin and Russia, I don't say good, bad, or indifferent. I don't know the gentleman. I hope we have a fantastic relationship. That's possible. And it's also possible that we won't. We will see what happens. I will be representing the American people very, very strongly, very forcefully and if we have a great relationship with Russia and other countries, and if we go after ISIS together. Which has to be stopped. That's an evil that has to be stopped. I will consider that a good thing, not a bad thing. As you know, Mexico with the United States has out- negotiated us and beat us to a pulp through our past leaders. They've made us look foolish. We have a trade deficit of $ 60 billion with Mexico. On top of that, the border is soft and weak, drugs are pouring in. And I'm not going to let that happen. We have a really, I think a very good relationship. The president and I, and we had a talk that lasted for about an hour, this morning. And we're going to be working on a fair relationship, and a new relationship. But the United States can not continue to lose. Vast amounts of business, vast amounts of companies, and millions and millions of people losing their jobs. That won't happen with me. We're no longer going to be the country that doesn't know what it's doing. And, so, we are going to renegotiate our trade deals and we're going to renegotiate Other aspects of our relationship with Mexico. And in the end, I think it will be good for both countries. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4670284/donald-trump-petition-britain-queen/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4670284/donald-trump-petition-britain-queen/"},"headline":"Donald Trump State Visit to Go Ahead Despite Petition, U.K. Government Says","datePublished":"2017-02-14T12:22:25.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T08:03:14.524Z","description":"\"HM Government does not support this petition\"","url":"https://time.com/4670284/donald-trump-petition-britain-queen/","keywords":["United Kingdom","Theresa May","President Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt834117dfe377c7a6/6988ba42656a3fccaabcec6f/gettyimages-633265688.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Kate Samuelson","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/kate-samuelson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt834117dfe377c7a6/6988ba42656a3fccaabcec6f/gettyimages-633265688.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President Trump Meets With British PM Theresa May At The White House","caption":"President Trump Meets With British PM Theresa May At The White House","creditText":"Christopher Furlong—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4670284/donald-trump-petition-britain-queen/","name":"Donald Trump State Visit to Go Ahead Despite Petition, U.K. Government Says"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"President Trump Meets with British Prime Minister May","description":"As a candidate, Donald Trump called the North Atlantic Treaty Organization \"obsolete.\" But as he stood next to British Prime Minister Theresa May Friday, she told the world that he was \"100% behind\" the alliance.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/eJvkuFTj/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2017-01-27T20:00:04.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/eJvkuFTj.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4670284/donald-trump-petition-britain-queen/","duration":"PT2M10S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4670284/donald-trump-petition-britain-queen/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```