Watch out, John Swinney – Donald Trump is, it seems, eyeing up your job. During the US President’s trip up north to visit his Turnberry golf course and open his new ‘Mona Lisa’ course in Aberdeenshire, Trump was full of praise for bonnie Scotland and its people, going so far as to single out the First Minister to call him a ‘terrific guy’ during yesterday’s opening ceremony. Goodness…
But while the President was full of compliments for the SNP leader, he suggested he wouldn’t mind knocking him off the top spot to take the First Minister job himself at some point. When quizzed whether he’d ever want to run Scotland, Trump told journalists:
Yeah well, Scotland probably has a very good First Minister right now. But Scotland, look, they don’t have crime… I could do that. I might be eligible. I could be within six months or something. But, it is a special place, but they don’t have some of the problems we have, they don’t have big crime, a different form of crime – they get into an argument or something – it can be very minor compared to the kind of things you witness every day. It’s a very good way of life, actually. They have very nice views, too.
A win for the nationalists, eh?
Swinney went for dinner with Trump and Sir Keir Starmer on Monday evening, before enjoying a brief 15-minute chat with the President on Tuesday. The read-out from the Scottish government stated that the First Minister had raised the issue of whisky and salmon tariffs with Trump, as well as the war in Gaza, Scotland’s support for Ukraine and proposed providing Edinburgh Airport with US Customs pre-clearance facilities. No mention of passing the baton, however…
Comments