Trump had earlier caused outrage in Britain by retweeting three videos posted by Jayda Fransen, the deputy leader of the far-right UK party Britain First. The inflammatory videos showed people purported to be Muslims carrying out assaults and, in one video, smashing a statue of the Virgin Mary.

Downing Street condemned Trump, staying [SIC] he was "wrong" to share videos by a group that "seeks to divide communities through their use of hateful narratives which peddle lies and stoke tensions." ... After Trump's attack on May, there was intense pressure on the British government to cancel the US President's planned state visit to the UK.

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan said Trump's latest outburst meant it had become "increasingly clear that any official visit at all from President Trump to Britain would not be welcomed" and called on May to call it off.

"President Trump yesterday used Twitter to promote a vile, extremist group that exists solely to sow division and hatred in our country," Khan said in a statement on Thursday.

"Many Brits who love America and Americans will see this as a betrayal of the special relationship between our two countries. It beggars belief that the President of our closest ally doesn't see that his support of this extremist group actively undermines the values of tolerance and diversity that makes Britain so great." ... Before Trump's riposte, another British cabinet minister, Sajid Javid, who is Muslim, took a stronger line. "So POTUS has endorsed the views of a vile, hate-filled racist organisation that hates me and people like me," he said in a Twitter post. "He is wrong and I refuse to let it go and say nothing."

The leader of the opposition Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, called the retweets "abhorrent, dangerous and a threat to our society."

Trump faced a barrage of criticism in the UK Parliament on Thursday that was unprecedented for a US President. MPs variously called him "racist," "fascist" and "evil." Labour MP Paul Flynn said Trump should be charged with inciting racial hatred if he enters the UK.

Earlier, Brendan Cox, the husband of murdered British lawmaker Jo Cox -- whose killer reportedly shouted "Britain first" as he stabbed her -- said Trump had "become a purveyor of hate." He told CNN's Anderson Cooper: "This is like the President retweeting the Ku Klux Klan. ..."