Donald Trump's UK visit is a waste of police time and money – he's not worth the trouble

Britain’s criminal classes are at this moment probably gathering around log fires for a toast prior to a rousing rendition of Good King Wenceslas.

The policing operation necessitated by the visit of President Trump could end up creating for them a gift that will keep on giving throughout much of the rest of the year.

Every force in Britain is having to contribute to the biggest policing operation this country has seen since the riots that followed the 2011 fatal shooting of Mark Duggan in Tottenham.

Which begs the question: is it worth it?

Trump’s arrival is set to kick off widespread civil unrest. The National Police Federation says the requirement to both police it, and provide security for the presidential party, is putting pressure on a service that is already “creaking at its knees”.

During the course of the visit, those left minding the shop at their respective homes will be reduced to reactive work, but that’s just the start of it.

Yes the Home Office has said it will pony up extra funds, but officers up and down the country have had their rest days cancelled. They have every right to expect that they will be able to take them at a later date. However, the sheer number that will need to be caught up means it’s going to take months, further impacting upon the work the police do.

Of course, forces will be prioritising catching criminals.

But think about this.

Thames Valley Police scored a stunning success with its Operation Hornet that led to the prosecution of a ring of Hbos bankers and consultants who perpetrated a £245m fraud against small businesses on their patch.

That force’s commissioner, Anthony Stansfeld, has rightly highlighted the problem created for his force by the £7m cost of the investigation, and vast amount of manpower tied up in a case that others, such as the Serious Fraud Office, really should have taken the responsibility for.

He highlighted a dilemma that is probably all too familiar to his colleagues: do we take on a complex case like this and let other things fall by the wayside, or do we let them get away with it?

The visit will serve to sharpen the horns of that dilemma.

It wouldn’t matter so much if something meaningful were to come from it.

But will it?

The “special relationship” has never been very special to the American side, even when the Oval Office has been inhabited by a more conventional occupant.

Ronald Reagan was an ideological soulmate of the last woman prime minister of these isles, Margaret Thatcher, and had a close personal friendship with her.

That didn’t stop him from invading the Commonwealth island of Grenada without so much as a by your leave, while sitting on the fence during much of the Falklands conflict between Britain and Argentina.

Now? Put it this way, May has already been derided for her “school mistress tone” by a man who has repeatedly demanded loyalty from others he feels no compunction about showing to them.

He apparently plans to visit May’s potential nemesis Boris Johnson while he’s here, and you can be sure that the two of them together won’t be able to resist creating trouble for her. It’s one of the few things they’re actually good at.

As for help from the Trump administration when the UK crashes out of the EU with a trade deal to cushion the blow? It’s just another one of the Brexiteers’ fantasies.

Quite where the upside is to be found for May, let alone the country, is beyond me.

I should state for the record I don’t blame the protestors. Au contraire.

They will be exercising their democratic rights. It is vitally important that they are supported in doing so. May constantly, and mendaciously, invokes “the British people” and their “will” as cover for the mess her party and government is making of Brexit.

It is only right that British people are afforded the facility to expose her government’s selective deafness when it comes to their views.

But it’s still a desperately sad fact that England’s exit from the World Cup could actually quietly be seen as good news by senior police officers and commissioners, because at least their forces now won’t have to cope with the sort of over exuberant celebrations that marred the quarter-final win over Sweden.

The Trump visit is, in reality, nothing more than a ruinously expensive dog and pony show, that will put Britain’s police forces under pressure they really don’t need.

It’s not worth it. Not even close.