For Donald Trump, in politics as in life, it seems the only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about.
But today, the Republican presidential candidate will enter unfamiliar territory, even by his larger-than-life standards, when British MPs hold a parliamentary debate over a petition calling for the U.S. businessman-turned-politician to be banned from the country.
The debate, which will be held in the UK Parliament’s Westminster Hall at 4.30 p.m. local time (11.30 a.m. ET), is a result of a petition launched last month by Scottish freelance journalist and activist Suzanne Kelly to block the former reality TV star from British shores.
The petition, which calls for the 69-year-old to be barred because of his “hate speech” after his calls for a travel ban on Muslims entering the United States, has received more than 574,000 signatures.
Any petition that gets more than 100,000 signatures is considered by Parliament’s Petitions Committee, which weighs whether to send the petition for debate by lawmakers in Parliament.
A debate, but no vote
The unconventional debate is unlikely to result in any such action, however. No vote will be held at the end of the debate, and politicians are expected to treat it more as an opportunity to air their views on the divisive Republican under the protection of parliamentary privilege, which legally shields them from accusations of defamation or slander.
British Home Secretary Theresa May already has the power to ban visitors who have been convicted of a crime, jailed or are in breach of immigration rules, and can ban visitors from outside the European Economic Area whose presence in the UK is deemed nonconducive to the public good.
People who have been barred previously include Quran-burning U.S. pastor Terry Jones, a Hamas MP and a former Ku Klux Klan leader.
British Prime Minister David Cameron has already said he is not in favor of any ban on Trump.
In comments to Parliament last month, he said that Trump’s proposal for a temporary ban on Muslims from entering the U.S. for security was “divisive, stupid and wrong,” but that a British ban on Trump in response was unnecessary.
“If he came to visit our country, I think he would unite us all against him,” he said.
Frosty response to remarks in Britain
Trump’s remarks on Islam after the San Bernardino terror attack — including the claim that parts of London were so radicalized that British police feared for their lives — struck a nerve in the UK, drawing condemnation from a range of public figures.
London Mayor Boris Johnson labeled them “complete and utter nonsense,” adding that “the only reason I wouldn’t go to some parts of New York is the real risk of meeting Donald Trump.”
And Scotland’s Robert Gordon University stripped Trump of an honorary degree it had bestowed on him five years ago, saying the politician had made “a number of statements that are wholly incompatible with the ethos and values of the university” during the presidential campaign.
The university had been pressured by another petition launched by Kelly, author of the petition to ban Trump from the UK, calling on it to revoke the honorary degree.
Kelly had previously campaigned against the development of the Trump International Golf Links, a high-end golf resort in Aberdeen, Scotland, which repeatedly brought Trump into conflict with locals.
Last month, Britain’s Supreme Court unanimously knocked back Trump’s appeal against a wind farm being built overlooking the golf course, which he argued would be a blight on the coastal landscape.
Trump has previously responded to talk of a potential UK ban through a statement by his company, The Trump Organization.
“Any action to restrict travel would force The Trump Organization to immediately end these and all future investments we are currently contemplating in the United Kingdom. Westminster would send a terrible message to the world that the United Kingdom opposes free speech and has no interest in attracting inward investment,” it read.
“This would also alienate the many millions of United States citizens who wholeheartedly support Mr. Trump and have made him the forerunner by far in the 2016 presidential election. Many people now agree with Mr. Trump that there is a serious problem that must be resolved. This can only be achieved if we are willing to discuss these tough issues openly and honestly.”