Donald Trump has thanked an unlikely ally for supporting plans for his new golf course during the official opening at his Aberdeenshire resort.
The US president did a lacklustre impression of James Bond star Sir Sean Connery’s accent as he addressed guests and the media from the Scottish resort.
Referring to difficulties getting the new site approved, Mr Trump said: “This has been an unbelievable development.
“The land, they said it couldn’t get zoned, it was an impossibility.
“And Sean Connery said ‘let the bloody bloke build his golf course’. Once he said that everything came into line.”
Mr Trump previously paid tribute to the late Sir Sean after his passing in 2020, saying: “The legendary actor, 007 Sean Connery, has past (sic) on to even greener fairways. He was quite a guy, and a tough character. I was having a very hard time getting approvals for a big development in Scotland when Sean stepped in and shouted, ‘Let him build the damn thing’.
“That was all I needed, everything went swimmingly from there. He was so highly regarded & respected in Scotland and beyond that years of future turmoil was avoided. Sean was a great actor and an even greater man. Sincere condolences to his family!”
This is not the first time President Trump has suggested Sir Sean had been influential in getting approval for the new development, although doubts have been raised about the veracity of the claims.
In 2008 Connery is reported to have said of the development: “During tough economic times, this is a major vote of confidence in Scotland’s tourist industry and our ability to rise to the challenge. I look forward to seeing a new gem in the north-east that is good for Aberdeenshire and good for Scotland.”
But Aberdeenshire councillor Martin Ford, who was chair of the planning committee that initially refused Trump’s application to build the resort, told the Guardian: “Mr Connery was not involved in the due process that led to the granting of planning permission for a golf resort at Menie. He did not submit a letter of representation to the council, appear at the planning hearing, or at the public local inquiry.”
Ford added: “Opinions offered in press articles are not material considerations in decisions on planning applications.”
Mr Trump said he discussed Sir Sean’s support for the golf course with Scottish first minister John Swinney on Monday night, as the two attended a private dinner.
They then met more formally on Tuesday ahead of the opening ceremony for the course. At Tuesday’s meeting Mr Swinney raised the plight of Gazans with the US president, pleading for Mr Trump to do more to support those suffering from malnourishment.
At the launch of the golf course, Mr Trump said he is “working together” with Israel “to try and get things straightened out” in Gaza amid warnings of severe mass starvation in the enclave.
After opening his new golf course in Menie, Aberdeenshire, a reporter from the crowd asked the US president “what will you say next to Benjamin Netanyahu”, the prime minister of Israel.
“We’re working together to try and get things straightened out,” Mr Trump said.
Earlier during his speech at the course, the US leader said he would fly back to Washington to “put out fires all over the world”.
Mr Trump’s meeting with Mr Swinney came after he spent the day with Sir Keir Starmer, taking more than an hour of media questions alongside the prime minister.
The president, seen as one of Israel’s strongest supporters, signalled the United States would not object to such a move – giving Sir Keir the green light as pressure mounts on him politically to follow Emmanuel Macron, who last week announced France would do so.
In an apparent shift in US backing for Israel, the president also expressed his concern at images and reports of children starving in Gaza, as a ground blockade means only very limited aid is getting through.
And he joined calls for Benjamin Netanyahu to soften his tactics in Gaza, saying the Israeli PM “may have to do it a different way”.
