Meddling Trump should back off

DONALD Trump's decision to have his administration “monitor” the case of Lucy Connolly - the woman jailed for inciting racial hatred after the Southport stabbings - amid concerns over freedom of speech isn’t just hypocrisy, it's pantomime-level posturing soaked with authoritarian arrogance.

- CHRISTOPHER BUCKTIN

Once again, Trump has strapped on his oversized red tie, puffed out his chest, and taken it upon himself to meddle in the affairs of a country he neither understands nor respects. And this time, he’s doing it in defence of someone who encouraged mass deportation and arson. Very presidential.

Connolly wasn’t jailed for expressing an unpopular opinion over a cup of tea.

She posted a hate-filled tirade in the aftermath of a horrific triple murder. Her tweet wasn’t “controversial”. It was incitement. And British courts, quite rightly, held her accountable and she was sentenced to 31 months in prison.

Campaigners have raised the case with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio as part of concerns about what they describe as “draconian hate speech laws” across Europe.