Theresa May has told Donald Trump his racist tweet about US congresswomen was “completely unacceptable”.
The US president sparked fresh anger and accusations of racism when he ranted about the four Democrats on Sunday.
Trump said “Progressive Democrat” politicians who had criticised him should “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came”.
Trump appeared to be referring to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan.
A Downing Street spokesman said today: “The prime minister’s view is that the language used to refer to these women was completely unacceptable.”
May’s decision to wade into the row, however, will pile pressure on Boris Johnson to be more critical of Trump.
The Tory leadership frontrunner was accused of pandering to the US president when he failed to back Britain’s ambassador to the US, Sir Kim Darroch, after a series of cables were leaked in which the diplomat called Trump’s administration “inept”.
Scottish Conservative leader Ruth Davidson threw her support behind May and said both Johnson and Jeremy Hunt, the two men battling it out to replace the PM, should also condemn Trump.
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, meanwhile, compared Trump’s language to that of “racists and fascists”.
“I am 48 years old, born and raised in London,” he told LBC. “The sort of language – “go back to where you came from” and “you don’t belong” – it’s the sort of language I’ve heard in my lifetime.
“I’ve heard it from racists and fascists. Never from a mainstream politician.
“Well here you have the President of the USA using that same sort of language.”
Ocasio-Cortez, who is from New York, yesterday tweeted: “Mr. President, the country I ‘come from,’ and the country we all swear to, is the United States.
“You are angry because you can’t conceive of an America that includes us. You rely on a frightened America for your plunder.”
Pressley also responded on Twitter, adding: “THIS is what racism looks like. WE are what democracy looks like.”
Tlaib, congresswoman for Michigan’s 13th district, said: “He is the crisis. His dangerous ideology is the crisis. He needs to be impeached.”
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also slammed Trump for the attack, saying the president himself was responsible for the “complete and total catastrophe” in Washington.