President Trump cancels £72 million military parade in bitter row over cost
US President Donald Trump has cancelled his plans for a £72 million military parade because the price was ‘ridiculously high’.
The parade will take place in 2019 at the earliest, if it goes ahead at all, officials said in a statement.
Trump took to Twitter to accuse local politicians in the American capital for inflating the price, although the projected $92 million cost was largely attributed to Pentagon costs for aircraft, equipment and personnel.
President Trump tweeted ‘maybe we will do something next year when the cost comes WAY DOWN’.
The local politicians who run Washington, D.C. (poorly) know a windfall when they see it. When asked to give us a price for holding a great celebratory military parade, they wanted a number so ridiculously high that I cancelled it. Never let someone hold you up! I will instead…
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 17, 2018
….attend the big parade already scheduled at Andrews Air Force Base on a different date, & go to the Paris parade, celebrating the end of the War, on November 11th. Maybe we will do something next year in D.C. when the cost comes WAY DOWN. Now we can buy some more jet fighters!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 17, 2018
A Pentagon spokesman said in a statement that the Department of Defense and the White House ‘have now agreed to explore opportunities in 2019’.
The Defence Department had already said the parade would not happen this year.
He added that the money saved from not holding the military parade could go to buying more jet fighters.
MOST POPULAR STORIES ON YAHOO UK TODAY
US media hits back at Donald Trump over claims of ‘fake news’ with coordinated editorials
Man jailed for making hoax bomb call because he was late for his flight
Police tell shopkeeper to remove ‘wanted’ poster because it breaches shoplifter’s rights
Jeremy Hunt: No-deal Brexit ‘would be a mistake we’d regret for generations’
Nasa probe detects glowing ‘wall’ around our solar system
President Trump had called for the patriotic show of force last year after watching France’s Bastille Day celebration in the centre of Paris at the invitation of the French president.
But the project has been beset with logistical hurdles, such as the damage heavy tanks would do to city streets and an exorbitant price tag.
The parade was originally conceived to mark the centenary of the end of World War One, on 11 November this year.
Originally the cost for the parade was estimated at $10m (£7.8m) but in recent weeks that had grown to almost $100m.
There had been many critics of the planned parade, including Washington local authority, the District of Columbia Council.
Better late. Then: never.
Tanks but no tanks. pic.twitter.com/57WR28RMyU— Council of DC (@councilofdc) August 17, 2018
They had opposed it ever since the plan was announced, and critics said on Friday that it was the council which had pulled the plug on the parade, not the president.
The council also tweeted in response President Trump’s announcement.
It read: ‘Tanks but no tanks.’
Many in the Democratic Party also opposed the parade with some claiming the planned march was a celebration of the president’s ego, not the military
