{"id":378407,"date":"2025-08-27T19:31:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-27T19:31:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/378407\/"},"modified":"2025-08-27T19:31:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-27T19:31:10","slug":"lib-dem-leader-to-boycott-kings-trump-banquet-in-protest-over-gaza-ed-davey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/378407\/","title":{"rendered":"Lib Dem leader to boycott king\u2019s Trump banquet in protest over Gaza | Ed Davey"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Liberal Democrat leader, Ed Davey, will boycott King Charles\u2019s state banquet held in honour of Donald Trump<\/a> to protest against the US president\u2019s failure to intervene decisively to end the war in Gaza.<\/p>\n

Davey, who is invited to the dinner for Trump\u2019s state visit to the UK, said to turn down an invitation from the king went against all his instincts and that it was a deeply serious move to refuse to attend.<\/p>\n

But he said he feared unless he took a stand over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the lack of pressure on Israel<\/a> from the US government, no one would raise the issue during the president\u2019s visit in late September.<\/p>\n

Davey said: \u201cBoycotting the state banquet is not something I ever wanted to do, but I believe it is the only way I can send a message to both Donald Trump and Keir Starmer<\/a> that they cannot close their eyes and wish this away.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s state visit is an honour that has never previously been extended for a second time to a US president. Davey said he believed Keir Starmer was right to engage with Trump, but said it was vital that someone raised the issue of Gaza<\/a> in a way that could not be ignored.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe humanitarian crisis in Gaza must stop. The famine must end. The hostages must be returned home. There is one man, more than anyone else, who has the power to make it happen,\u201d he wrote in a Guardian piece explaining his decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cDonald Trump could do those things today if he chose to. He has more power than anyone else finally to force a ceasefire and put Israel and Palestine on the path to a lasting peace, with a two-state solution. But so far, he\u2019s decided not to. Instead, he\u2019s given Netanyahu his full support.\u201d<\/p>\n

Davey said the invitation to state banquets was \u201cone of the great privileges of being the leader of my party\u201d.<\/p>\n

Keir Starmer hands Donald Trump a letter in February from King Charles III, inviting him to an unprecedented second state visit to the UK. Photograph: Carl Court\/PA<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cReceiving an invitation from the king is an enormous honour, and I take very seriously my duty to our sovereign.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo refuse an invitation like this goes against all of my instincts. But having thought and prayed long and hard about it with Emily [Gasson, Davey\u2019s wife], I have come to the conclusion that on this occasion I must refuse.\u201d<\/p>\n

Davey said although he deeply disagreed on many issues with Trump, including on Ukraine, his engagement with Vladimir Putin and his use of tariffs, his decision to boycott the dinner was purely a stand on Gaza.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI think Keir Starmer is right to engage with him \u2013 although I do wish he was tougher with Trump on everything from tariffs to Putin,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI fear we could have a situation where Trump comes to our country, is honoured with a lavish dinner at one of our finest palaces, and no one reminds him that he has the power to stop the horrifying starvation, death and captivities in Gaza. And no one uses this moment to demand that the US president picks up that phone to Netanyahu and the Qataris and does the right thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Davey said the war in Gaza was now causing such acute suffering he was determined to use every lever he could as an opposition leader.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel a responsibility to do whatever I can to make sure the people in Gaza are not forgotten during the pomp and ceremony. To make sure the UK makes Donald Trump\u2019s personal responsibility for securing peace in Israel and Palestine an issue.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Liberal Democrat leader, Ed Davey, will boycott King Charles\u2019s state banquet held in honour of Donald Trump…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":378408,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[12,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-378407","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uk","8":"category-united-kingdom","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115102396387589190","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378407","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=378407"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378407\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/378408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=378407"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=378407"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=378407"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}