EUAN McCOLM: Ignore the urge to stick two fingers up to Trump, deploy some 'necessary hypocrisy' and welcome him to Scotland, Mr Swinney - it's your duty

Daily Mail​

15-07-2025

John Swinney was perfectly clear. So far as the First Minister was concerned, the UK should not be rolling out the red carpet for a state visit from US President Donald Trump.
Days after Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer met Mr Trump at the Whitehouse, Mr Swinney said the invitation should be revoked. The US President was not, said the SNP leader, a 'steadfast ally'.
The nationalists' leader at Westminster, Stephen Flynn MP, was even more direct, saying it was time for Mr Starmer to 'get back up of his knees' and withdraw the offer of bells-and-whistles visit.
Both Mr Swinney and Mr Flynn lashed out after a meeting between Mr Trump and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky during which the US president harangued his counterpart.
There is no question in my mind that Mr Trump and his Vice President JD Vance behaved disgracefully during that Oval Office summit. Their attempts to humiliate Mr Zelensky made them look the small men they are.
And so the instinct to stick two fingers up to the American President is, I think, perfectly understandable.
But what good would withdrawal of that invitation have done? How would that have advanced the cause of the Ukrainian people or benefitted the UK? (Those calling for the cancellation of a state visit might, had their demands been met, have enjoyed a dopamine-rush of self-righteousness, I suppose.)
It now emerges that, in advance of the state visit in September, Mr Trump will be in the UK later this month. The President will meet both Sir Keir and Mr Swinney during a trip to his Aberdeenshire golf resort.
While the First Minister greets Mr Trump, other Scottish MSPs will be protesting his presence in the country.
During the launch, last week, of his bid to become one the Scottish Green Party's two co-leaders, Ross Greer said he doubted that Mr Swinney would agree to meet either Russian President Vladimir Putin or Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu.
'What,' asked Mr Greer, 'is the distinction between them other than economic power and how do we think history will judge those who tried to treat him like just another world leader?'
Leaving aside the far-left's obsession with the judgement of history, why shouldn't Mr Trump be treated, while in the UK, like any other world leader?
It is - or certainly should be - possible for a politician to deprecate the actions of the petty and vindictive president while maintaining a clear-eyed view of the bigger picture. And that bigger picture is one in which - although the present occupant of the White House may not be to one's taste - the USA remains a key democratic ally to the UK.
Some years ago, I attended an event in Edinburgh at which former US President Barack Obama delivered a speech in which he spoke of the complexity of political relationships and decision making. Sometimes, he said, leadership involved a degree of 'necessary hypocrisy'.
To the rigid ideologue, such a concept is difficult to grasp. Armed with the certainty that he - and only those who agree with him - are in the right, he attacks those who do not share his worldview.
From the moral high-ground, the view is not at all clear. Rather, it is clouded by the prejudices or, if one is feeling charitable, convictions of the person standing there.
When John Swinney and Stephen Flynn spoke out against a state visit for President Trump, they gave voice to the instincts of many. The disgusting treatment of President Zelensky during his White House visit remains a stain on the USA's reputation.
But politicians are not elected to give voice to our personal - or, indeed their own - prejudices but to advance the interests of the country.
And, I do not see how it would benefit the UK - including Scotland - for either Sir Keir Starmer or Mr Swinney to pick an unnecessary fight with Mr Trump.
The SNP has form when it comes to the childishly inept handling of international relations.
Last August, Mr Swinney was invited to meet Israel's deputy ambassador to the UK, Daniela Grudsky. Unable to attend, the First Minister sent external affairs secretary Angus Robertson in his stead.
Mr Robertson - as he should have - greeted Ms Grudsky warmly and happily posed for photographs with her.
Then came the backlash from within the SNP.
There were calls from nationalists for Mr Robertson to be suspended from the party.
SNP backbencher Christine Grahame, said her constituents were shocked the meeting had happened, and described Robertson as 'a liability' while minister Ivan McKee told the BBC that his colleagues should reflect on what he had said during the meeting.
As the backlash grew, Mr Robertson humiliated himself.
With the benefit of hindsight, he said, the meeting - which included discussions about rising antisemitism, renewable energy cooperation, and culture - should have gone played out differently.
'No one,' said Mr Robertson, 'intended that this meeting be presented as legitimatising the actions of the Israeli government in Gaza. The Scottish government has been consistent in our unequivocal condemnation of the atrocities we have witnessed in Gaza.'
The external affairs secretary went on to say that it 'would have been better' to ensure the meeting had been strictly limited to the need for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
'I apologise,' he said, 'for the fact this did not happen.'
Mr Robertson is a rarity among senior SNP politicians in that he has some grasp of the complexity of international relations. He is, by nature, a pragmatist; he went to that meeting with Ms Grudsky, enthusiastically, because he understood it was the right thing to do.
Mr Robertson's apology was an embarrassment to him and Scotland.
It should hardly need stating that taking meetings with foreign presidents or ambassadors does not mean support for the positions they hold. Rather, it displays the necessary willingness to engage with the world as it is rather than as one might hope it to be.
When Donald Trump visits the UK later this month, John Swinney should smile, shake his hand, and make the case for US investment in our country. That is his duty.
It is not in the best of interests of either the UK - including Scotland - or Ukraine for posturing politicians at Holyrood to make the presidential visit about their personal feelings.