Theresa May has stayed conspicuously quiet as Donald Trump has made statements defending Nazis and white supremacists for the violence in Virginia last weekend.
Flag-waving Nazis, alongside members of the Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacist groups, brought violence and hatred to the streets of Charlottesville, Virginia, over the weekend. They chanted racial and antisemitic slurs, and were involved in a number of street brawls with anti-fascist protesters, before one of their group intentionally drove his car into a group of peaceful protesters, killing one and injuring 19 more.
Britain, alongside the US and many other countries around the world, fought a long a bloody war against the Nazis and their ideas. Now, with those ideas gaining ground in the US and a member of such a group committing an act of domestic terrorism on US soil, the US President has defended them and the British Prime Minister has kept her mouth firmly shut on the issue.
Condemning Nazis should be the easiest job in the world for a politician – they have been the cartoon bad guys in all forms of culture for over 75 years. However, Brexit has left Theresa May so weak that she is too scared of offending the White House to speak out against evil when it rears its ugly head.
Leadership would be Theresa May standing up to Donald Trump and revoking the state visit offer, explaining that the UK cannot welcome anyone who defends Nazism or believes far right terrorism can be equated with anti-fascist protest.
