1.5m Brits sign petition to cancel Trump's UK state visit, fearing embarrassment to Queen
More than 1.5 million people in Britain have signed a petition calling for US President Donald Trump's planned state visit to be cancelled to avoid embarrassing Queen Elizabeth, following outrage over his travel ban on mainly Muslim countries.
The invitation to make a state visit, which will involve lavish displays of royal pageantry and a banquet hosted by the monarch, was conveyed by Prime Minister Theresa May when she visited Trump in Washington last week.
But Ms May came under pressure to cancel the visit after Mr Trump issued an executive order on Friday suspending the arrival of all refugees for at least 120 days, Syrian refugees indefinitely - and suspending travel from Muslim-majority countries Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen from the US for 90 days.
The petition against the state visit, which is on the British parliament's website, currently has more than 1.5 million signatures.
Twelve months ago, British parliament debated banning Trump from visiting, following a petition signed by nearly 600,000 people, after the then White House candidate promised to drastically restrict US entry to people from Muslim countries if he became president.
RELATED: Melbourne schoolboy's space camp dreams shattered in US visa ban
"Donald Trump should be allowed to enter the UK in his capacity as head of the US Government, but he should not be invited to make an official State visit because it would cause embarrassment to Her Majesty the Queen," the new petition states.
"Donald Trump's well-documented misogyny and vulgarity disqualifies him from being received by Her Majesty the Queen or the Prince of Wales."
A growing list of politicians were also calling for the visit to be cancelled, including several lawmakers from May's own Conservative Party, opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn and London Mayor Sadiq Khan.
"We must now rescind the offer of a full state visit for President Trump - until this ban is lifted. I don't believe the people of London will support rolling out the red carpet until this happens," Khan wrote in the Evening Standard.
A spokeswoman for May told reporters Britain disagreed with Trump's executive order, but the prime minister's Downing Street office later made clear cancelling the visit was not on the cards.
"To be clear, the prime minister extended an invitation on behalf of the Queen - and she was very happy to do so. The USA is one of this country's closest allies, and we look forward to hosting the president later this year," Downing Street said.
The petition against the visit was the second most popular of all time on the parliamentary website, after one calling for a second referendum on membership of the European Union drew over 4 million signatures last year.
Once a petition passes 100,000 signatures, lawmakers must consider it for debate.
Closer to home, a Melbourne schoolboy was denied entry into the US to attend a "space camp" under the controversial "Muslim ban".
Dual Australian-Iranian citizen Pouya Ghadirian, 15, said he had been in contact with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and was hopeful Australia would be able to work out a deal so he can still attend the event.
