JOHN Swinney was criticised by a senior SNP colleague for attending a Windsor Castle state banquet in honour of President Trump.
Scotland’s First Minister was the only devolved leader to attend, which led to senior SNP MP Chris Law writing on X yesterday that going to the banquet was conceding that it’s “acceptable to support genocide in Gaza”.
He has since deleted the post.
The Scottish Greens also previously called on Swinney not to attend and to think about the “message it sends” that he will be part of the proceedings.
Swinney was seen deep in conversation with Prime Minister Keir Starmer at the event, with the pair laughing together as they stood next to the table ahead of the banquet starting.
His attendance came off the heels of an unprecedented 50-minute meeting with Trump in the Oval Office last week to argue for a tariff deal with Scotch whisky.
Asked why he chose to attend, Swinney told the BBC's Good Morning Scotland programme yesterday: “I think you've...I've just got to, I've got a job to do on Scotland's behalf to make sure that Scotland is argued for and promoted.
“I took that opportunity last week when I was able to have a meeting with President Trump and the Oval Office for a very long meeting, actually, to discuss issues in relation to Scotch whisky and the effect of tariffs.
“It's my job to engage to make sure that I take forward the interests of Scotland. And I did that over the summer when President Trump came to Scotland to visit his golf course.
“And I did it again last week, when the Scotch whisky needed to be pursued.”
It was an argument Justice Secretary Angela Constance also made, insisting people would expect the First Minister to “be representing Scotland at an international level”.
Constance said she does not know why SNP colleague Law had posted his comment, saying her focus this week had been on steering “historic” reforms to Scotland’s justice system through Holyrood.
“With the greatest respect I have not been glued to social media,” she told BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme on Thursday.
During the banquet, the US president paid tribute to America’s relationship with the UK saying the word “special does not begin to do it justice”.
The US leader also heaped praise on the King describing him as a “very, very special man”, listing a catalogue of his passions from the environment to architecture during a banquet staged in his honour to mark Trump’s second historic state visit.
Trump told the guests, who included media mogul Rupert Murdoch, gathered in Windsor Castle’s St George’s Hall: “Seen from American eyes the word special does not begin to do it justice.”
He went on to say: “We’re joined by history and faith, by love and language and by transcendent ties of culture, tradition, ancestry and destiny.
“We’re like two notes in one chord or two verses of the same poem, each beautiful on its own, but really meant to be played together.
“The bond of kinship and identity between America and the United Kingdom is priceless and eternal.”
In central London thousands marched in protest against the US leader’s second state visit.
Some protesters held banners which read: “No to the racism, no to Trump”, while others carried smaller versions of the Trump baby blimp, a 20ft iteration which became a symbol of demonstration during the president’s first UK state visit in 2019.
