DONALD TRUMP has been sacked by Robert Gordon University and the Scottish Government over his calls to ban Muslims entering the US.
Trump was appointed GlobalScot Ambassador by then First Minister Jack McConnell in 2006. GlobalScot is a network of “successful executives located throughout the world”, according to Scottish Development International. The ambassadors are supposed to have a “strong desire to see Scotland succeed in the global business arena”.
Yesterday the government decided they no longer wanted to have Trump representing them.
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “Mr Trump’s recent remarks have shown that he is no longer fit to be a business ambassador for Scotland and the First Minister has decided his membership of the respected GlobalScot business network should be withdrawn with immediate effect.”
Trump’s honorary degree was awarded by Robert Gordon University in 2010 and stripped from him yesterday as the university came under mounting pressure.
A spokesman for Robert Gordon university said: “In 2010 Robert Gordon University awarded an honorary DBA to Mr Donald Trump, in recognition of his achievements as an entrepreneur and businessman.
“In the course of the current US election campaign, Mr Trump has made a number of statements that are wholly incompatible with the ethos and values of the university. The university has therefore decided to revoke its award of the honorary degree.”
Yesterday the petition calling on the UK Government to ban Trump from entering the UK passed 250,000 signatures, meaning a debate in the House of Commons is likely.
On Twitter, Trump wrote that the people signing the petition “don’t know what they’re getting into”.
During yesterday’s Prime Minister’s Questions Labour MP Stephen Timms and SNP MP Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh asked George Osborne, who was standing in for David Cameron, to ban Trump.
Ahmed-Sheikh, who also writes for The National, said: “It’s my understanding that the Home Secretary has banned 84 hate preachers from entering the UK. Will the Government lead by example in considering making Mr Donald Trump number 85?”
Osborne replied: “Look, I think the best way to confront the views of someone like Donald Trump is to engage in a robust, democratic argument with him about why he is profoundly wrong about the contribution of America Muslims and indeed British Muslims.
“And that is the best way of to deal with Donald Trump and his views rather than trying to ban presidential candidates.”
A YouGov poll found that 61 per cent of Ukip supporters backed Trump’s policy to ban Muslims. The poll reported in The Telegraph was based on a relatively small sample. There was a strong rejection of the policy from supporters of every other party.
The outrage over his comments has had an impact on his Scottish businesses. An offer on daily deals site itison sent out to hundreds of thousands of people yesterday morning offering a spa day at Trump Turnberry for more than half price was scratched two hours later after the company’s subscribers complained.
User Brian asked the company: “Is this deal open to Muslims and Mexicans?”
Jenny from itison customer service team said: “The deal we featured for Trump Turnberry this morning was an error of judgement on our part for which we sincerely apologise.
“We are entirely divorced and in disagreement with the politics and given the recent developments we should never have featured this deal on our site, and for that we are truly sorry.”
The company said they would not run any future deals with Trump because of the “political situation”.
Trump International Turnberry did not respond to The National’s request for a comment.
Meanwhile in America, Trump insisted he was going nowhere and attacked Time magazine for making Angela Merkel person of the year rather than him.
He tweeted: “I told you @TIME Magazine would never pick me as person of the year despite being the big favorite They picked person who is ruining Germany.”
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