Anti-Trump protesters set to march in Scotland over US President's five-day visit to open golf course and talk trade deals with Keir Starmer

Daily Mail​

25-07-2025

Donald Trump will land in Scotland later today as he begins a five-day private trip to the country with mass protests expected around his golf courses and major cities.
The US President is due to arrive on Air Force One at Glasgow Prestwick Airport this evening before heading over to his Turnberry golf course in South Ayrshire.
He is expected to spend time at the course over the weekend, meet Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Scottish First Minister John Swinney, open a new 18-hole golf course at his Menie estate in Aberdeenshire on Tuesday and then fly home.
A huge security operation involving officers from across the UK is well underway - with protests planned in Aberdeen, Glasgow, Edinburgh and at the two courses. A 10ft-high metal barrier has been installed at Turnberry to help protect the President.
Mr Trump's family have spoken of their pride and excitement over his visit - with Eric Trump, the executive vice-president of his father's Trump Organization, saying the President had waited 'years' to come back to the country of his late mother's birth.
Eric Trump told the Scottish Daily Mail: 'We have just completed the greatest course on Earth and waited years for this day to come. I've never been more proud to have my father arrive in Scotland to see his original dream come to fruition. We can't wait!'
The President will be welcomed at Prestwick later by Scottish Secretary Ian Murray, with the minister pledging to give the American leader a 'warm welcome'.
But Mr Trump's presence has resulted in a significant operation from Police Scotland and thousands of officers, who are expected to deal with mass protests.
The Stop Trump Coalition is planning demonstrations in Aberdeen and Edinburgh tomorrow and there is a major police operation in place amid concerns it will seriously stretch resources.
Kirsty Haigh, from the Scotland Against Trump group, told Sky News: 'He should not be welcomed by us, by our leaders. We want to see a Scotland that is very different than [the] America that's being created.'
How Donald Trump's mother Mary was a daughter of Scotland
Mary Anne MacLeod
Donald Trump's trip to Scotland this week will be a homecoming of sorts, but he's likely to get a mixed reception.
The President has had a long and at times rocky relationship with the country where his mother grew up in a humble house on a windswept isle.
Mr Trump's mother was born Mary Anne MacLeod in 1912 near the town of Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis, one of the Outer Hebrides off Scotland's northwest coast.
'My mother was born in Scotland - Stornoway, which is serious Scotland,' the President said in 2017.
She was raised in a large Scots Gaelic-speaking family and left for New York in 1930, one of thousands of people from the islands to emigrate in the years after the First World War.
Ms MacLeod married the President's father, Fred C Trump, the son of German immigrants, in New York in 1936. She died in August 2000 at the age of 88.
Mr Trump still has relatives on Lewis, and visited in 2008, spending a few minutes in the plain grey house where his mother grew up.
Mr Trump's last visit as a serving President in July 2018 saw thousands of people protest in Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow. The trip cost Police Scotland more than £3million and required mutual aid as officers were sent in from other UK forces.
The latest visit is expected to require a security operation as big as the arrangements for the late Queen Elizabeth II's funeral in September 2022 - involving up to 6,000 officers - with taxpayers again facing a bill of more than £3million for policing his stay.
Around 5,000 Police Scotland officers will be needed for the 'large-scale, complex' Operation Roll 2 – the codename for policing the visit - with a further 1,000 drafted in from the rest of the UK.
A 'ring of steel' has been established at Turnberry, with 10ft perimeter fencing erected as security measures are ramped up by officers with road closures in place.
Chinook helicopters were at Prestwick Airport earlier this week, while US military planes and helicopters gathered on Monday. A convoy of vehicles and staff were being flown in to keep him safe during his visit.
Ordinarily his bullet-proof motorcade could include up to 50 vehicles, some carrying anti-aircraft guns and hi-tech radio equipment, while others are designated for family, close aides and members of the Press.
Several black SUVs were unloaded from two US Air Force C-17 cargo planes at Prestwick on Wednesday, with another three of the aircraft arriving in the afternoon.
The helicopters that operate as Marine One when the President is on board cost between $16,700 and nearly $20,000 per hour to operate, according to Pentagon data for fiscal year 2022.
The modified Boeing 747s that serve as the iconic Air Force One cost about $200,000 per hour to fly. Military cargo aircraft also fly ahead of the President with his armoured limousines and other official vehicles.
Stephanie Campbell and Leanne Maxwell, who live in Turnberry and used to work at Mr Trump's resort, said the first lesson staff there are given is how to respond to a bomb threat.
Ms Campbell told Sky News: 'I had no issues working for him, he is a really decent boss. The last time he came there was an element of excitement, I think this time there comes with an added element of concern.
'It brings a lot higher threats and security and it's much more difficult for everybody in the area.'
Ms Maxwell added: 'Security is obviously being bumped up. It's quite worrying. He's quite a man, ain't he?'
The President will meet with Sir Keir during his stay when the pair will discuss the UK-US trade deal, and will also meet with First Minister John Swinney 'at some point'.
The SNP leader previously said he would have the opportunity to raise various issues with Mr Trump, including tariffs, Gaza and Ukraine.
Trump's ongoing Scots golf course battles
Mr Trump's ties and troubles in Scotland are intertwined with golf, after he first proposed building a course on a stretch of the North Sea coast north of Aberdeen in 2006.
The Trump International Scotland development was backed by the Scottish government, but it was fiercely opposed by some local residents and conservationists.
They claimed the stretch of coastal sand dunes was home to some of the country's rarest wildlife, including skylarks, kittiwakes, badgers and otters.
Local fisherman Michael Forbes hit the headlines after he refused the Trump Organization's offer of £350,000 to sell his family's rundown farm in the centre of the estate.
Mr Forbes still lives on his property, which Mr Trump once called 'a slum and a pigsty.'
'If it weren't for my mother, would I have walked away from this site? I think probably I would have, yes,' Mr Trump said in 2008 amid the planning battle over the course. 'Possibly, had my mother not been born in Scotland, I probably wouldn't have started it.'
The golf course was eventually approved and opened in 2012. Some of the grander aspects of the planned development, including 500 houses and a 450-room hotel, have not been realised, and the course has never made a profit.
A second 18-hole course at the resort is scheduled to open this summer. It's named the MacLeod Course in honour of the President's mother.
There has been less controversy about Mr Trump's other Scottish golf site, the long-established Turnberry resort, which he bought in 2014. He has pushed for the British Open to be held at the course for the first time since 2009.
Turnberry is one of ten courses on the rotation to host the Open, but organisers say there are logistical issues about 'road, rail and accommodation infrastructure' that must be resolved before it can return.
Speaking ahead of his arrival, Mr Swinney said the global attention the visit will receive provides Scotland with an opportunity to respectfully demonstrate the principles of freedom and justice for all, while also promoting Scotland's tourism sector and economic investment potential.
He said: 'Scotland shares a strong friendship with the United States that goes back centuries. That partnership remains steadfast through economic, cultural and ancestral links - including of course, with the President himself.
'As we welcome the President of the United States, Scotland will be showcased on the world stage. This provides Scotland with a platform to make its voice heard on the issues that matter, including war and peace, justice and democracy.
'It also includes the millions of Americans - many of them potential future tourists or investors in Scotland - who will watch their elected President as he visits our country.
'As First Minister it is my responsibility to advance our interests, raise global and humanitarian issues of significant importance, including the unimaginable suffering we are witnessing in Gaza, and ensure Scotland's voice is heard at the highest levels of government across the world.
'That is exactly what I will do when I meet with President Trump during his time in Scotland.'
Mr Swinney said Scotland is a 'proud democratic nation' that 'stands firm on the principles of equality and freedom for all, and a society that stands up for a fair and just world'.
Ahead of the expected protests, he said people had a right to 'peaceful demonstration', adding that 'everyone has the democratic right to protect and express their views in a peaceful, and democratic manner'.
'That is right and proper,' he added. 'I am confident the vast majority of people protesting will do Scotland proud and demonstrate as they should - peacefully and lawfully.
'I am also confident that Scotland's police service can handle the challenge of keeping all our communities safe and, as they must, in maintaining the appropriate security any US President requires.
'This weekend is a landmark moment in our relationship with the United States, and I am certain it will be remembered for Scotland showing the world the very best of itself.'
Former prime minister Liz Truss was spotted at Turnberry yesterday, but it is not known whether she will meet the President.
Although Mr Trump is in the UK on a private visit, he will face calls from both sides of the border to cut his punishing tariffs on whisky and other exports.
Whisky chiefs are desperate for the President to reduce or scrap the 10 per cent duty imposed on exports of malts and blends to the US. The Prime Minister is also expected to raise the issue during planned talks on Monday.
Mark Kent, chief executive of the Scotch Whisky Association, said: 'The President's visit to Scotland is a timely opportunity to highlight the enduringly positive relationship that has lasted between Scotland and the United States for centuries.
'Scotch whisky and US whiskey embody that close and abiding relationship... and both have flourished under zero-tariff access to UK and US markets for over thirty years.'
He added: 'The visit is a critical moment for the UK Government to re-engage in discussions to remove the tariffs on Scotch whisky in the industry's largest global market.'
A history of America's golfers-in-chief
Family financial interests aside, Donald Trump isn't the first sitting US president to golf in Scotland. That was Dwight D Eisenhower, who played in Turnberry in 1959. George W. Bush visited the famed course at Gleneagles in 2005 but didn't play.
Many historians trace golf back to Scotland in the Middle Ages. Among the earliest known references to game was a Scottish Parliament resolution in 1457 that tried to ban it, along with football, because of fears both were distracting men from practising archery - then considered vital to national defence.
The first US president to golf regularly was William Howard Taft, who served from 1909 to 1913 and ignored warnings from his predecessor, Teddy Roosevelt, that playing too much would make it seem like he wasn't working hard enough.
Woodrow Wilson played nearly every day but Sundays, and even had the Secret Service paint his golf balls red so he could practice in the snow, according to Mike Trostel, director of the World Golf Hall of Fame.
Warren G Harding trained his dog Laddie Boy to fetch golf balls while he practiced. Lyndon B. Johnson's swing was sometimes described as looking like a man trying to kill a rattlesnake.
Bill Clinton, who liked to joke that he was the only president whose game improved while in office, restored a putting green on the White House's South Lawn. It was originally installed by Eisenhower, who was such an avid user that he left cleat marks in the wooden floors of the Oval Office by the door leading out to it.
Mr Bush stopped golfing after the start of the Iraq war in 2003 because of the optics. Barack Obama had a golf simulator installed in the White House that Mr Trump upgraded during his first term, Mr Trostel said.
John F Kennedy largely hid his love of the game as president, but he played on Harvard's golf team and nearly made a hole-in-one at California's renowned Cypress Point Golf Club just before the 1960 Democratic National Convention.
'I'd say, between President Trump and President John F Kennedy, those are two of the most skilled golfers we've had in the White House,' Mr Trostel said.
Mr Trostel said Mr Trump has a handicap index - how many strokes above par a golfer is likely to score - of a very strong 2.5. However, he has not posted an official round with the US Golf Association since 2021. That's better than Joe Biden's handicap of 6.7, which also might be outdated, and Mr Obama, who once described his own handicap as an 'honest 13.'
The White House described Mr Trump as a championship-level golfer but said he plays with no handicap.
Mr Trump is also expected to hold talks with Mr Swinney, who previously called for his official state visit to be cancelled.
The First Minister was urged to hold constructive talks and put an end to 'petty posturing' which could threaten jobs and investment.
Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay said: 'The success of President Trump's visit to Scotland must not be jeopardised by John Swinney indulging in the SNP's usual petty posturing which we have seen so often.'
Mr Swinney previously backed Mr Trump's rival in the Presidential contest, Kamala Harris – and voted in favour of a motion in 2019 calling for the withdrawal of an offer of a state visit to the UK during Mr Trump's first term.
But yesterday he said the UK Government has a 'duty' to make sure it is 'welcoming foreign dignitaries to Scotland in the right way, particularly one that is our closest and nearest ally both economically and in defence and security'.
He said it was 'in the national interest to work as closely as possible with the United States' and that it was right that he is welcomed when he arrives.
Six years ago, Mr Murray backed a motion tabled by Labour's Stephen Doughty in the House of Commons which called on then Prime Minister Theresa May to rescind the offer of an official state visit to Mr Trump.
The motion said the House 'deplored' Mr Trump's 'misogynism, racism and xenophobia', among other criticisms of his time in office.
Asked what has changed, Mr Murray said: 'What's changed is that it is really important for both countries to work together. Governments have to work together very closely.
'Given the US is our closest ally, given we have just done a trade agreement with them to remove tariffs for the benefit of UK and Scottish businesses, and given global events at the moment, it is really, really important for these historic ties to work together with our closest allies, and that is what we are intending to do.
'The important thing is that what has changed is the basis of us being able to work together with our allies. Being in government gives us the responsibility to do that.'
White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers called the Scotland swing a 'working trip'.
But she added that Mr Trump 'has built the best and most beautiful world-class golf courses anywhere in the world, which is why they continue to be used for prestigious tournaments and by the most elite players in the sport'.
The trip to Scotland puts physical distance between Mr Trump and the latest twists in the case of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, the wealthy financier accused of sex trafficking who died in prison in 2019 before facing trial.
In his heyday, Mr Epstein was friends with Mr Trump and others in the New York jet-set, but the President is now facing backlash from his own MAGA supporters who demand access to the Epstein case files.
The Wall Street Journal, which published an article detailing longstanding links between Mr Trump and the sex offender, is being punished by the White House.
Its reporting staff plans to travel to Scotland on its own and join the White House press pool. But it has now been denied a seat on Air Force One for the flight back home.
Mr Trump is expected to return to the UK in September for a state visit - his second - at the invitation of King Charles III.