Donald Trump will receive a “warm welcome” from the UK Government when he touches down in Scotland on Friday, Scottish Secretary Ian Murray has said.
The US president is expected to visit both his golf clubs north of the border – in Aberdeenshire and South Ayrshire – during the four-day visit.
The PA news agency understands Mr Murray is expected to meet Mr Trump as his plane arrives in Scotland.
The president is also expected to meet Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Scottish First Minister John Swinney.
The Scottish Secretary told BBC Radio Scotland the UK will extend a “warm welcome” to the president, given the historic ties between the two countries.
“Of course it’s a warm welcome,” he said.
“We would always have a warm welcome for the president of the United States.
“The office of the president of the United States and the office of the Prime Minister are ones that work very, very closely together, and should do, because it’s in our national interest to do so.
“We should make sure those relationships are in place because it’s important for our defence, our security, our economy – especially for jobs – and it’s really, really important to the finer details of the US trade deal that’s been done.”
Mr Murray’s comments come despite a 2019 motion in the House of Commons which he backed – along with Foreign Secretary David Lammy and Health Secretary Wes Streeting – while in opposition which accused the president of “misogynism, racism and xenophobia”.
Pressed on his support for the motion, Mr Murray did not answer, instead focusing on the importance of the relationship between the two countries.
Mr Murray said the Scottish Secretary has a “duty” to welcome foreign dignitaries.
Shadow Scottish secretary Andrew Bowie accused Mr Murray of having “no credible explanation” for his support of the motion.
“So let me help him: in 2019 he was shamelessly playing to the gallery like a student politician, whereas today he is a Government minister forced to get real and behave like a grown-up,” he added.
“I’m glad that Ian Murray has belatedly recognised how vital it is for Scotland to welcome, and work constructively with, the US president – but he’d have more credibility if he put his hands up and owned his past juvenile opportunism.”
Protests are expected in parts of Scotland during the visit, with police expected to be stretched and requests for extra officers being issued to other forces in the UK.
The Scottish Police Federation, which represents rank-and-file officers, said policing will be “seriously affected”.
Mr Swinney said this week that Mr Trump’s time in Scotland would not put policing in a “detrimental position”.
