British Prime Minister Theresa May insisted yesterday that she is not afraid to criticize a key ally, saying U.S. President Donald Trump's retweets of a "hateful" far-right group were "the wrong thing to do." But May's government dug in its heels over mounting calls to cancel Trump's planned state visit to the U.K.

Trump's retweeting of anti-Muslim videos from far-right fringe group Britain First has been widely condemned in Britain. May's spokesman called the retweets "wrong," and the prime minister gave the same verdict.

"The fact that we work together does not mean that we are afraid to say when we think that the United States have got it wrong and to be very clear with them," she said. "I am very clear that retweeting from Britain First was the wrong thing to do."

Speaking in Amman, Jordan, May said the anti-Islam, anti-immigrant group was "a hateful organization" that runs counter to "common British decency."

Trump responded to criticism from Britain with a tweet urging May to focus on "the destructive Radical Islamic Terrorism that is taking place within the United Kingdom," rather than on him.