Politics

Labour’s Rosena Allin-Khan eviscerates DUP MPs for shamelessly supporting ‘racist homophobe’ Trump

DUP Sammy Wilson, Ian Paisley Jr Donald Trump

DUP MPs showing their support for Donald Trump (image via Twitter/Sammy Wilson)

Labour MP Rosena Allin-Khan has absolutely eviscerated three DUP MPs for parading a “Trump 2020” flag on the grounds of parliament.

Allin-Khan, Labour MP for Tooting, shared a tweet from DUP MP Sammy Wilson, which shows himself and three others holding a Trump flag on parliament grounds.

“Keep America Great!” Wilson tweeted, along with British and American flag emojis.

Wilson, who is MP for East Antrim, was photographed with DUP MPs Paul Girvan (South Antrim), Ian Paisley Jr (North Antrim), as well as a fourth unidentified man.

Labour MP Dr Rosena Allin-Khan shared Wilson’s tweet and lambasted all three politicians as an “embarrassment” for supporting Trump.

“These four are an embarrassment by parading this flag on the grounds of our parliament,” she wrote.

“Almost 200,000 Americans have sadly died while the racist, sexist and homophobic US president continues to spout hate.”

Photo of DUP MPs supporting Donald Trump made Northern Irish representatives ‘cringe’.

The DUP MPs were also roundly criticised by SDLP MP Claire Hanna, who told the Belfast Telegraph that the stunt was a “clear attempt at attention-seeking by Sammy Wilson”.

Hanna said that people could judge for themselves whether Trump, a “backward, racist, and destructive president” was a suitable role model.

Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) MLA Doug Beattie also condemned the photo, saying it made him “cringe”.

“People can of course support whoever they want for the US presidency, but to see three MPs giving the thumbs-up while holding a Trump banner personally makes me cringe,” he said.

This is not the first time the DUP MPs in the photograph have thrown their weight behind the US president.

Earlier this month, Paisley claimed that he was “good friends” with Trump, and said the US president had invited him to the White House “not as a politician but as a family friend”.

“I do like him,” Paisley told the Human Nature podcast. “I think he’s a character and I think he’s very different from his television persona.

“[He is] very much a numbers guy [who] always wants to talk business, always wants to talk about what the numbers mean.

“He introduced me to his sons. I had one of his sons over with me and he stayed. I met his daughter – Ivanka’s an absolutely lovely lady.”

Meanwhile, Sammy Wilson welcomed Trump’s election in 2016, writing at the time that he was a “straight talking president”.

The MPs have been widely criticised online for the photograph, with many people drawing attention to Trump’s appalling track record on LGBT+ rights as a major cause of concern.

The MPs have a history of making anti-LGBT+ comments.

Trump has dedicated much of his presidency to rolling back LGBT+ rights – but that is unlikely to concern Wilson, who has his own history of making anti-gay comments.

In 1992, when a gay rights group asked to use City Hall in Belfast for an event, Wilson said: “They are poofs. I don’t care if they are ratepayers. As far as I am concerned they are perverts.”

Meanwhile, Ian Paisley Jr came under fire in 2005 when he described same-sex relationships as “immoral, offensive and obnoxious”.

“I find those sorts of relationships immoral, offensive and obnoxious, and I think the vast majority of the people of Northern Ireland feel the same, and have expressed the view that they feel that way,” Paisley said at the time.

The DUP, their political party, has also campaigned against LGBT+ rights throughout its history, and managed to block same-sex marriage in Northern Ireland for years.

Same-sex marriage finally became a reality in Northern Ireland in January of this year, following a lengthy campaign by LGBT+ activists.

PinkNews has contacted the DUP for comment.

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