DONALD Trump has been urged by his UK-based supporters to stay away from London and visit Scotland instead – in order to avoid “major protests, crime and disorder”.
In a letter to the US president, in which they seem to have spectacularly misjudged the mood north of the Border, six conservative groups say he should focus his visit on his “ancestral home”, suggesting a Balmoral meeting with the Queen.
READ MORE: Ruth Davidson must 'distance herself' from calls for Trump visit to Scotland
The White House announced yesterday that Trump would visit on July 13, following the Nato summit which the president is due to attend in Brussels on the previous day. Interest in Trump’s plans has been fuelled this week by the high-profile state visit to the US of Emmanuel Macron, which some commentators have framed as a bid by the French president to make Paris Washington’s first port of call in Europe following Brexit.
Trump cancelled a planned trip to London to open the new US embassy in Vauxhall earlier this year, complaining the move to an “off location” south of the Thames had been a “bad deal”.
READ MORE: The US and France: Story of the original ‘special relationship’
But it is thought his decision may have been driven by a fear of protests in the capital, with whose mayor Sadiq Khan he has clashed over his response to terrorism.
The expectation of demonstrations is also believed to have played a part in the postponement of a state visit mooted for 2017.
That trip – which would involve lavish ceremonies and a stay with the Queen at Buckingham Palace – has been put off indefinitely, though No 10 insists the invitation stands.
The letter to Trump was signed by the heads of conservative think tanks the Bow Group, Bruges Group, Parliament Street and the Freedom Association, as well as the chairman of Republicans Overseas Scotland and a contributor to ThinkScotland.
They told the president the political and media establishment in London was “far out of touch” with the feelings of ordinary people outside the capital, many of whom “strongly support” his leadership.
“Your ancestral homeland of Scotland represents a powerful bond between you and Britain, and given the nature of the climate in London, it is a superior destination,” they said. “As you know, the Royal Estate of Balmoral Castle sits in Scotland’s Cairgorms National Park, thus allowing you to make a full state visit as the guest of the Her Majesty the Queen. Scotland and the north of England also offer a variety of locations where you would be able to speak directly to ordinary British people and witness the true level of support that exists for you and the special relationship between the US and the UK.”
Ben Harris-Quinney, chairman of the Bow Group, said: “A visit to London by the president is likely to draw major protests, crime and disorder, and we do not wish to see Britain or President Trump embarrassed by this.”
Scottish Greens co-convenor Patrick Harvie was quick to call on Scots to get ready to give Trump a proper welcome. “Even though the White House spokespeople are saying this, it *might* still be true. Let’s get ready. #ScotlandAgainstTrump #Resist,” he wrote on Twitter.
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