British Prime Minister Theresa May has said that US President Donald Trump was wrong to retweet a video from a far-right British group, which she said was "hateful" and spreads division.
Mr Trump sparked controversy in Britain with a sharp rebuke of Mrs May on Twitter after she criticised him for retweeting anti-Islam videos from the deputy leader of Britain First.
"The fact that we work together does not mean that we're afraid to say when we think the United States has got it wrong, and be very clear with them," Mrs May told reporters during a trip to Jordan.
"And I'm very clear that retweeting from Britain First was the wrong thing to do," Mrs May said.
Mr Trump tweeted after the initial criticism from Downing Street saying: "Theresa @theresamay, don't focus on me, focus on the destructive Radical Islamic Terrorism that is taking place within the United Kingdom. We are doing just fine."
He initially tagged the tweet to a Twitter handle that is not Mrs May's, though he later retweeted to her account.
Mr Trump shared anti-Muslim videos posted by Jayda Fransen, deputy leader of anti-immigration fringe group Britain First, who was convicted this month of abusing a Muslim woman.
Always a pillar of Britain's foreign policy, the so-called "special relationship" with Washington has taken on added importance as Britain prepares to leave the European Union in 2019.
Since Mr Trump became president, Mrs May has tried to cultivate a good relationship with him.
She was the first foreign leader to visit him after his inauguration, and they were filmed emerging from the White House holding hands.
She also invited him to make a state visit to Britain, angering Mr Trump's many critics in Britain.
In the House of Commons this morning, British Home Secretary Amber Rudd said Mr Trump was wrong to retweet the posts of what she described as extremist organisation.
"I think we all listen more carefully, perhaps, to criticism from our friends than from people who we don't have a relationship with. So, I hope that the prime minister's comments will have some impact on the president," Ms Rudd said.
President Trump has used Twitter to promote a vile, extremist group that exists solely to sow division and hatred in our country. It's increasingly clear that any official visit from President Trump to Britain would not be welcomed. pic.twitter.com/oZ1Kt0JCfY
— Sadiq Khan (@SadiqKhan) November 30, 2017
I don't make it a habit to respond to every ugly tweet from President Trump. If I did, I’d have little time for anything else. But even for Trump, today's retweets of a series of offensive videos from a British right-wing, anti-Muslim fringe group reaches a new low.
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) November 29, 2017
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan, who has previously been drawn into a twitter spat with Mr Trump following his comments after terror attacks in the British capital, added his voice to the criticism of the president's retweets.
In a statement, Mr Khan said Mr Trump's actions will be seen by many British people "who love America and Americans will see this as a betrayal of the special relationship of our two countries".
He added that Mrs May should use "any influence she and her government claim to have with the President and his administration to ask him to delete these tweets and to apologise to the British people".
The videos purported to show a group of people who were Muslims beating a teenage boy to death, battering a boy on crutches and destroying a Christian statue.
"It is wrong for the president to have done this," a spokesman for Mrs May said yesterday.
British MPs demanded that Mr Trump make an apology and US Muslim groups said it was incendiary and reckless.
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn tweeted: "I hope our government will condemn far-right retweets by Donald Trump. They are abhorrent, dangerous and a threat to our society."
Conservative MP Nadhim Zahawi shared a letter he has written to Mr Trump to register his "strong discontent" at the retweets.
Referencing Mr Trump's planned state visit to the UK, Mr Zahawi said: "You are soon due to visit the United Kingdom. When you are here, I believe you would find enlightening the experience of visiting our beautiful cities like Coventry, Birmingham, Manchester and London.
"They are so far removed from the stereotypes that the videos of Britain First try to portray."
The Britain First posts included unverified videos titled "Muslim migrant beats up Dutch boy on crutches!" and "Muslim Destroys a Statue of Virgin Mary!"
The Dutch authorities said that the attacker in the first video was in fact born and raised in the Netherlands.
.@realDonaldTrump Facts do matter. The perpetrator of the violent act in this video was born and raised in the Netherlands. He received and completed his sentence under Dutch law.
— Netherlands Embassy 🇺🇸 (@NLintheUSA) November 29, 2017
Brendan Cox, the husband of murdered MP Jo Cox, also criticised the president after his tweet to the Prime Minister.
You have a mass shooting every single day in your country, your murder rate is many times that of the UK, your healthcare system is a disgrace, you can’t pass anything through a congress that you control. I would focus on that. https://t.co/SNcqOZGvLQ
— Brendan Cox (@MrBrendanCox) November 30, 2017
The White House defended the retweets by the Republican president, who during the 2016 US election campaign called for "a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States", saying that he was raising security issues.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the president had been seeking to "promote strong borders and strong national security".
Ms Fransen said she was "delighted". She said Mr Trump's retweets showed the president shared her aim of raising awareness of "issues such as Islam".
The White House repeatedly refused to be drawn into the content of the videos or whether Mr Trump was aware of the source of the tweets.
"It's about ensuring that individuals who come into the United States don't pose a public safety or terrorism threat," White House spokesman Raj Shah told reporters aboard Air Force One.
