logo
Donald Trump hosts Starmer at Scottish golf resort

Donald Trump hosts Starmer at Scottish golf resort

STV News5 days ago
Donald Trump welcomed Keir Starmer to his Scottish golf resort on Monday
Keir Starmer and his wife Lady Victoria have arrived at Turnberry on Monday afternoon
Later, the Prime Minister will join Trump at his golf course in Aberdeenshire
Trump's visit has already been marked by arrests, including a disturbance on plane to Glasgow which has sparked a terror probe
Trump said US relationship with the UK is 'unparalleled'
US President said he wasn't 'a big whisky drinker' but maybe he should be
On the humanitarian crisis, Trump said the children in Gaza 'look very hungry'
The President said 'his hats are off' to the UK for 'stopping the wrong people' and taking a stronger stance on immigration
Donald Trump has welcomed Keir Starmer to his Scottish golf resort.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer arrived at Turnberry on Monday for a meeting with Donald Trump.
Trump appeared at the front door of Turnberry to greet the Prime Minister and his wife as he arrived at approximately 12.40pm.
Standing on the Turnberry steps, the US President said he 'loved this country'.
'My mother was born in Scotland, it's an incredible place – a beautiful place,' he said.
'Our relationship with the UK is unparalleled.'
On tariffs on the Scottish whisky industry, the US President said: 'I didn't know whisky was a problem.
'I'm not a big whisky drinker but maybe I should be.'
Speaking about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, Trump said the children 'look very hungry'.
He added: 'We are giving a lot of money and a lot of food to Gaza.'
Starmer said: 'It's a humanitarian crisis, and people in Britain are revolted by the scenes in Gaza. Britain is working with Jordan on getting direct aid drops in.'
The President was also asked about his advice for dealing with the small boats' crisis in the UK.
'If you are stopping the wrong people, my hats are off to you,' Trump said.
The President said if the 'boats are loaded up with bad people, and they usually are because other countries don't send their best,' then he said the UK is doing a 'fantastic' thing.
Starmer added that his Labour Government has returned '35,000 [immigrants] who have no right to be here'.
Trump also suggested he would reduce the 50-day deadline for Russia to agree to a ceasefire with Ukraine.
The President said he was 'very disappointed' with Vladimir Putin.
'We thought we had that settled numerous times, and then President Putin goes out and starts launching rockets into some city like Kyiv and kills a lot of people in a nursing home or whatever,' Trump said.
'We're going to have to look and I'm going to reduce that 50 days that I gave him to a lesser number, because I think I already know the answer, what's going to happen.'
The Prime Minister travelled to Scotland to meet the US President on day three of his Scotland visit on Monday morning.
It is understood that he will discuss Washington's work with partners in Qatar and Egypt during his talks with Trump and seek to determine what more can be done to urgently bring about a ceasefire.
They will also discuss the recently agreed US-UK trade deal and the war in Ukraine.
After their meeting, the world leaders will travel on together for a further private engagement in Aberdeenshire.
The US President will then travel to his second resort, Trump International Golf Links on the Menie Estate.
The meeting comes after Trump briefly met European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen at his Turnberry golf course in Ayrshire on Sunday.
They agreed to a trade deal setting a 15% tariff on most European Union goods. Trump said it was the 'biggest deal ever made'.
Trump landed at Prestwick Airport on Friday evening for a five-day visit to Scotland and was seen playing golf at his resort over the weekend – on what has been described as a working holiday.
Sir Keir will travel to Scotland to meet the president at Turnberry before a planned press conference.
It is understood that he will discuss Washington's work with partners in Qatar and Egypt during his talks with Trump and seek to determine what more can be done to urgently bring about a ceasefire.
They will also discuss the recently agreed US-UK trade deal and the war in Ukraine.
After their meeting, the world leaders will travel on together for a further private engagement in Aberdeen.
The US President is then set to travel to his second resort Trump International Golf Links on the Menie Estate.
Former Aberdeenshire councillor Debra Storr was arrested on Friday near the Trump International Golf Links in Menie in connection with abusive behaviour. The 65-year-old has been released on an undertaking to appear at court at a later date.
A 'festival of resistance' is set to be held near the Aberdeenshire golf course on Monday afternoon.
Organisers of the protest at The White Horse Inn, in Balmedie, said they object to the golf course receiving £180,000 of public funding for the Nexo Championship next month.
Alena Ivanova of Stop Trump Scotland said: 'This message is to Donald Trump but also our elected leaders preparing to meet him: there is no place for Trumpism in Scotland.
'They need to stand up to him instead of kowtowing to this bully – including by handing over hundreds of thousands of pounds of taxpayer money for a golf tournament hosted at Trump International even while he attempts to bully us with tariffs.'
Hundreds of protesters gathered in both Edinburgh and Aberdeen on Saturday to voice their opposition to Trump's visit.
A man was arrested after a disturbance on board a flight bound for Glasgow on Sunday. A video being investigated by counter-terrorism police appears to show a man on an aircraft shouting 'death to America, death to Trump'.
A 50-year-old woman was issued with a recorded police warning in connection with alleged threatening behaviour at a Stop Trump Scotland protest outside the US consulate in Edinburgh on Saturday.
A 20-year-old man was also arrested at Prestwick Airport on Friday for abusive behaviour.
Trump will visit the UK again in September for an unprecedented second state visit.
Get all the latest news from around the country Follow STV News
Scan the QR code on your mobile device for all the latest news from around the country
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Tipping a hat to Scotland's social entrepreneurs
Tipping a hat to Scotland's social entrepreneurs

Scotsman

timean hour ago

  • Scotsman

Tipping a hat to Scotland's social entrepreneurs

Research by American Express earlier this year found that Generation Z business leaders are pioneering a new approach with purpose, profit, and wellbeing at the forefront of their ventures. Sign up to our Scotsman Money newsletter, covering all you need to know to help manage your money. Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Research by American Express earlier this year found that Generation Z business leaders are pioneering a new approach with purpose, profit and wellbeing at the forefront of their ventures. The study of UK entrepreneurs and senior leaders aged 18-27 revealed that while 88 per cent see hitting profit targets as the key measure of business success, 85 per cent said it's important for their business to solve problems that others don't, and 82 per cent of the sample considered their business to be 'purpose driven'. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad So, what does 'purpose driven' actually mean? Respondents of the survey defined this as a business which 'makes a positive difference to a significant environmental or social issue' (31 per cent), a business 'using its mission and values to guide decision-making' (22 per cent) or one with 'clear ethical credentials' (17 per cent). Leaving a positive legacy was crucial in the study, with 93 per cent of respondents wanting to 'build something that their family will be proud of'. Inmates in Glasgow are being taught the trade of making bread For me, when you see a bona fide purpose-driven business out on the coalface you know – as they say, when you know you know. Back in 2017, I met entrepreneur Matt Fountain, who had given up the chance to study a PhD in the economics of art at Oxford in order to set up social enterprise Freedom Bakery in Low Moss prison near Glasgow. Training inmates to make artisan bread for sale to cafes, restaurants and stores, CEO Fountain said at the time, in a national newspaper report we helped organise: 'We incarcerate people as punishment for a crime, but when they get released they get incarcerated again by society'. Chapeau Matt, chapeau. This week, we handled a press announcement for an initiative which aims to boost the creation and growth of Scottish tech businesses with a social or environmental mission. Techscaler – the Scottish Government's programme for creating, developing and scaling tech startups run by CodeBase – partnered with The Ventures Lab, a global organisation on a mission to support early stage social entrepreneurs, with a view to strengthening the pipeline of impact-driven startups in Scotland. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Dr Kate Smith, CEO and founder of Edinburgh-based ProfessorMe, is one of the purpose-driven companies already receiving support from the partnership. Having developed what the company describes as 'the world's first AI professor', she talks about improving the educational experience for students across the world, including in countries with disrupted education systems. Nick Freer applauds the rise of purpose-driven businesses As Kate, a former journalist, puts it: 'As a world-positive business, we want to reach learners no matter their personal circumstances or location. Research shows that if a woman receives a university education, it positively impacts her family for the next five generations.' 'We share a vision', says Smith, 'that a better world is possible'. I guess that gets to the heart of things when it comes to social entrepreneurs and purpose-driven businesses. The Matt Fountains and Kate Smiths of the world should be applauded and feted. Social entrepreneurs of the world, unite and take over!

BRIAN READE: 'Britain's a financial mess - we must pay more tax to fix Tory mistakes'
BRIAN READE: 'Britain's a financial mess - we must pay more tax to fix Tory mistakes'

Daily Mirror

timean hour ago

  • Daily Mirror

BRIAN READE: 'Britain's a financial mess - we must pay more tax to fix Tory mistakes'

When Labour took office last year, ministers proclaimed that 'the grown-ups are back in charge'. Why not prove it by having an adult conversation with us, says Brian Reade If voters were asked for the one trait they would dearly love to see more of in politicians, the vast majority would cite honesty. ‌ Imagine if Keir Starmer had said this week: 'I now back a Palestinian state - not because of the slaughter in Gaza, but because my MPs are so appalled by it I might lose hundreds of them if I don't distance myself from the IDF butchers. And from now on I'll come clean after every U-turn.' You'd think more of him, wouldn't you? ‌ Imagine if Kemi Badenoch said: 'The main reason the population of England and Wales has shot up by 2.6 million since 2020 is not the small boats but right-wingers like me selling you the myth that Brexit would let us take back control of our borders. Well, we were lying.' Again, you'd think more of her. ‌ Now imagine if Rachel Reeves levelled with us by saying: 'Us politicians have been selling you a false illusion that we can have world-class public services and low taxation. We can't. It's why Britain is broken. And so, being Labour, we're going for world-class public services, and that means reneging on our manifesto pledge and raising direct taxes.' Now you might not like the idea of paying more tax but you would probably agree with her appraisal of the financial mess we are in, and how the most urgent issue we face is the abject state of virtually every public service we once treasured. When Labour took office last year, ministers proclaimed that 'the grown-ups are back in charge'. Why not prove it by having an adult conversation with us and spelling out the facts of life? ‌ That we're living way beyond our means and cannot dig our way out of a financial black hole by cutting public services because the Tories slashed them to the bone, and made the coffers emptier with two cynical pre-election National Insurance cuts to try to save their skin. And with an ageing population and increased defence spending, things will only get bleaker. So we all need to pay more tax, with those who earn the most paying the most. Like we used to. When I started work in 1976 the basic rate of tax was 35%. Then along came tax-slashing Margaret Thatcher, but even when she left office in 1990 the basic rate stood at 25%. As successive governments have cut that since, today's basic rate is 20%. In Holland it's 36.93%, Belgium is 25% and Italy 23%. ‌ If we lifted the basic rate back to what it was under Thatcher we'd raise £34.5 billion a year. But that won't happen. Yet lifting it only one per cent would raise £8.2 billion a year by the end of this parliament. Lifting the higher rate, reinstating the 50% rate George Osborne dropped, and bringing in a wealth tax for those with assets above £10 million would raise many more billions. And prove we're all doing our bit. I'm sure the majority of British people want to see first-class public services and are prepared to pay for them. Certainly the ones who elected this government. After an ineffective and almost apologetic year in power, it's time for Labour to go on the offensive by not just fighting for the kind of country they believe in. ‌ But by being honest and telling us we have to pay for it. *** A few thoughts on the Lionesses' remarkable victory against the odds. ‌ How refreshing it was to see English football fans enjoying themselves without singing about shooting down German bombers, and those back home in pubs not hurling pints into the air whenever a goal was scored. What a wonderful two fingers to the money-obsessed men who run football that the women's Euros in Switzerland (where the prize was £34million) was deemed far more exciting and watchable than the mainly ignored men's Club World Cup in America (total prize money £743million). ‌ And how ludicrous is our honours system that some MPs are demanding every England player is made a dame. Yet had they lost the final there may have been the odd call to give them CBEs. Meaning, in the eyes of those who believe in it, the highest honour the British state can bestow on a woman depended on a couple of Spaniards taking better penalties. How absurd. *** ‌ PORN star Bonny Blue, who is proud to have slept with 1,057 men in 12 hours, describes her job as being 'a bit like a community worker'. And I'm sure many Tories agree with that as they think everyone who does social work lays on their back all day screwing the taxpayer. Much criticism has come the multi-millionaire's way after a Channel 4 documentary on her this week, but I think she is simply someone who has compromised with her childhood dream of being a midwife. By working in more-or-less the same area. ‌ *** Rather than walk away with a shred of dignity, shamed ex-MasterChef host Gregg Wallace continues to keep on digging a hole so furiously he may soon reach Australia. Rather than walk away with a shred of dignity, shamed ex-MasterChef host Gregg Wallace continues to keep on digging a hole so furiously he may soon reach Australia. ‌ According to him, despite 45 separate complaints about his inappropriate behaviour being upheld by the BBC, he is a serial victim, not perpetrator, of sleaziness: 'My God... have you got any idea how many times suggestive comments have been made to me? How many times I've been groped?' is his latest defence. Well I'll have a stab in the dark, mate. And say somewhere in the ballpark of none. *** ‌ THE WEEK'S FIVE BIG QUESTIONS: Tommy Robinson fleeing the country as police want to question him over a vicious assault at a London railway station. What a brave leader, eh? What a hero. When did we decide that unless you had money to queue-jump it was impossible to get a tooth taken out or sit a driving test in the UK? Article continues below If England's female footballers continue to show themselves to be in a superior class to the males, how long before we see women explaining the offside rule to their partners? Is there anything more hypocritical than high-profile expats who've moved abroad to pay less tax whining about migrants coming to the UK to make a better life?

Gov Gavin Newsom launches mean attack on Karoline Leavitt as he blasts White House's $200million ballroom plan
Gov Gavin Newsom launches mean attack on Karoline Leavitt as he blasts White House's $200million ballroom plan

Daily Mail​

timean hour ago

  • Daily Mail​

Gov Gavin Newsom launches mean attack on Karoline Leavitt as he blasts White House's $200million ballroom plan

Governor Gavin Newsom took a break from managing the Golden State to launch a biting and bizarre attack on White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt as she announced President Trump's plans to construct a new $200million ballroom at The White House. The digital stunt, posted from Newsom's official X account, featured a photoshopped image of Effie Trinket, the flamboyant elite character from The Hunger Games known for her garish clothes and callous privilege. In the image Trinket could be seen holding up ballroom renderings inside the White House press room just as Leavitt had done earlier in the day. The California governor likened Leavitt to the dystopian aristocrat while casting Trump's ballroom as the architectural equivalent of 'let them eat cake'. 'While all the Districts pay extra for groceries and everyday goods, the White House is excited to announce that the Capitol is creating a grand ballroom for opulent parties! May the odds be ever in your favor!!!' Newsom wrote, echoing snobby language from the popular franchise. But the post quickly backfired on Newsom with Trump supporters rushing to defend Leavitt. 'It's not being paid for by taxpayers - but you knew that,' chimed in one X user. 'Trump and donors are footing the bill, not taxpayers. You seem to have *purposely* left that out,' explained another. 'Opulent parties? Like you and your cronies at the French Laundry during COVID?' jabbed another, referencing one of Newsom's biggest missteps during Covid when he was pictured dining with a large group of friends despite pandemic restrictions. But the California Democrat wasn't done. He followed up with a tweet mocking the Trump administration's priorities. 'They're more interested in defending their ballroom than the 17 million they kicked off health care.' Then in a third tweet dripping with sarcasm from his personal account, Newsom responded directly to the White House announcement: 'Oh thank god - this is what the American people were desperately pleasing with you to do!' Leavitt, for her part, remained focused on the policy as she unveiled renderings for the planned 90,000-square-foot State Ballroom, detailing the privately funded construction project she said would allow the White House to host major diplomatic events without resorting to makeshift tents on the South Lawn. 'The White House is one of the most beautiful and historic buildings in the world,' Leavitt said. 'But it does not have a space that can accommodate major functions without installing large and unsightly tents 100 yards from the main building entrance. 'This ballroom will change that,' she added, noting the facility would hold up to 650 guests, a massive upgrade from the East Room's 200-person capacity. She said construction would begin in September, with completion expected 'well before the end of President Trump's term.' The California governor mocked the White House defending the planned ballroom despite none of the money coming from public funds In another sarcastic tweet Newsom continued to mock the announcement of the new ballroom For his part, President Trump embraced the ballroom plan with his usual bravado. 'We're good at building,' he said on Thursday. 'I'm good at building things, and we'll get it built quickly and on time. It'll be beautiful - top of the line.' The ballroom, he said, would reflect the design elegance of Mar-a-Lago and Turnberry, two of his signature properties, and would replace the East Wing - home to the First Lady's office - which will be temporarily relocated and modernized. Despite Newsom's implication, taxpayer dollars will not fund the project. Leavitt confirmed that Trump and private donors will cover the entire $200 million cost, although donor names were not disclosed. The ballroom will be built just south of the main mansion, and renderings show a white-columned neoclassical structure that mimics the White House's famous façade. It will be the first major structural addition to the Executive Mansion in nearly a century. The East Wing will not be demolished, but repurposed during the construction period. Leavitt reiterated the ballroom's diplomatic utility. 'This new facility will give the United States a world-class venue to host global leaders with the dignity and grandeur that such occasions deserve.' White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles emphasized the administration's commitment to architectural integrity.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store