Yesterday, Tim Farron quite rightly called out the desperate situation in which Theresa May now finds herself. Like a door to door salesman selling their wares she is now desperate in terms of who she will deal with on the world stage.

The refugee ban imposed by Donald Trump goes against all of the British values we stand for as a party and has even resulted in a Conservative MP being banned from visiting the US.

The primary duty of any Prime Minister is to defend British citizens. Yet when quizzed at the press conference in Turkey she claimed it was for the US to determine the refugee policy of the United States. Imagine if Churchill had said the same about Nazi Germany in 1940 when it came to the treatment of Jews.

Secondly there is the impact this ban will have on our armed forces. Among those detained at a US airport was an Iraqi who had been a translator for the US army. He was held in handcuffs and quizzed for 17 hours before being released. If that’s how the US treats those who work for their military risking their lives it is much less likely that Iraqis or others for that matter will step forward to help. Would you do so if you knew safe passage to the US could not be guaranteed?

Last year when the UK decided to deport an Afghan translator he committed suicide so we have form too in the abysmal treatment of those who have risked everything to protect our armed forces.

The ban on refugees is not just divisive and morally repugnant but it will lead to our armed forces being less safe in the battlefield. The only way to respond as a party is for all our elected MPs and Lords to refuse to be present when Trump addresses Parliament. To do otherwise would be to condone him and history will not judge us kindly for doing so.

* Chris Key is dad of two girls, multilingual and internationalist. He is a Lib Dem member in Twickenham who likes holding the local council and MPs to account.