By Aditi KhannaLondon, Jan 14 (PTI) Donald Trump had cancelled his nextmonth's visit to the UK after the British government did notshow him "enough love", according to a media report quoting asource close to the US President.
Trump had claimed that his abrupt decision to cancel theworking visit on February 26 and 27 for the launch of a new USembassy building was in protest against the "bad deal" overthe sale of the older embassy in posh Mayfair area of centralLondon.
However, the source quoted by The Sunday Times hasrevealed that in fact he had been put off by strong anti-Trumpsentiments expressed by London mayor Sadiq Khan, who hasrepeatedly said that Trump was not welcome in the city.
However, the source said that his proclaimed distaste forthe new embassy was "just an excuse".
"He (Trump) felt he had not been shown enough love by theBritish government," the source told the newspaper oncondition of anonymity.
"He (Trump) started to believe that the Britishgovernment thought the same way about him as Sadiq Khan andJeremy Corbyn (the Labour party leader), who have made cleartheir disdain for him and said he is not welcome in the UK,"the source said.
Khan, in a statement released on Twitter after Trump'sown tweet announcing that he would not be visiting the UK inFebruary, said: "President Trump got the message from the manyLondoners who love and admire America and Americans but findhis policies and action the polar opposite of our city'svalues".
Yesterday, pro-Trump protesters turned out to disruptKhan's speech on gender equality to the Fabian Society inLondon.
"It is a pleasure to be here even though we weredistracted by the actions of what some would call very stablegeniuses," the mayor said, as he resumed his speech followingthe interruption.
His comment was a jibe at the US President, who had usedthe phrase "very stable genius" to describe himself last week.
Downing Street officials were at an advanced stage ofplanning the US President's visit to London, which alsoincluded a visit to Buckingham Palace for lunch.
Trump is also said to have expressed interest in playinga round of golf at Queen Elizabeth II's nine-hole golf courseon the Balmoral estate in Aberdeenshire.
But on Friday, he tweeted that he would not be the oneinaugurating the new US embassy at Nine Elms on the south bankof the Thames because he did not approve of the "off location"site.
The cancellation has been widely viewed as a blow to UK-US relations, raising fears that it could scupper plans for aspeedy post-Brexit trade deal between the two traditionalallies.
Sir Nigel Sheinwald, who served as British ambassador tothe US from 2007-12, told 'The Observer' that after Trump'slatest outburst the UK "should put out of our minds the ideathat just around the corner when we leave the EU there is amagical deal with the US that is going to solve all our tradeand industrial problems".
"The way in which the bilateral relationship hasatrophied and the tone has changed in the last year since(British Prime Minister Theresa) May's first visit is quite abig blow," he warned. PTI AK CPS AKJCPS.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.