Inside Donald Trump's Turnberry bilateral with Keir Starmer

The Herald Scotland

2 days ago

The President answered questions on Ukraine, Gaza, Jeffrey Epstein, golf, Scottish independence, 'windmills', and whisky.
He even answered questions that hadn't been asked—like how do you restore the ceiling of a late Victorian-era golf club ballroom?
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The Prime Minister could perhaps have done with being a little less impassive, like when the President called Sadiq Khan a 'nasty person'.
'He's a friend of mine, actually,' Sir Keir said, though stayed quiet when the President added that the Labour Mayor of London had done a 'terrible job'.
The only person with a more inscrutable coupon than Sir Keir is probably his wife, Victoria, who has, quite purposefully, cultivated one of the lowest profiles of any prime ministerial spouse in recent years.
Lady Starmer and the PM were dropped off at the door to Turnberry at about 12.30pm, and were almost certainly expecting nothing more than a handshake and a couple of minutes of chit-chat.
They got that, yes, including—I was a bit far away and couldn't quite hear over the bagpipes, but one of the US journalists told me—a chat about the size of Ailsa Craig.
But then there was an impromptu press conference on the steps, where President Trump took questions for about 15 minutes.
'They've got to get their act together,' the President said when asked about immigration. 'If they don't, you're not going to have Europe anymore, as you know it, and you can't do that. This is a magnificent part of the world, and you cannot ruin it.'
The Starmers looked on, stony, deadpan, expressionless.
(Image: Andrew Learmonth) I've never known a day quite like it.
I was there because four days ago my name got drawn out of a hat.
There were 13 journalists coming over with the President from the US. So No 10 then made sure there were 13 British journalists—including cameras and the like—attending as part of this media delegation.
Three were to come from Westminster and two from Holyrood.
Apparently, Scottish Labour spin doctors were taking credit for making sure Scottish journalists were in the room.
But so too did the Americans. 'You've got to have the Scots,' they told the UK Government.
Nevertheless, I'm grateful to whoever did the negotiations.
The only fair way to decide which Scottish journalists took part was a sort of reporter raffle.
So, through random luck I found myself in a South Ayrshire car park on a Monday morning waiting for a Downing Street official to whisk me through a security cordon into the Games Room at the Trump Turnberry spa.
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I was told in advance there'd be a lot of waiting and to bring a packed lunch.
The US journalists, however, got afternoon tea. Dainty little crustless sandwiches and tasty treats.
The British hacks sat in the corner, some with Tupperware and last night's pasta, and others with their Tesco meal deals.
Despite the rules, some of us managed to sneak some of the Americans' egg rolls and a couple of wedges of millionaire's shortbread.
We learned later that each US media outlet had paid around $20,000 to accompany the President on the trip. The cash covers the cost of Air Force One, the hotels on the way and afternoon tea in Trump Turnberry.
That was easily the most expensive millionaire's shortbread I've ever pilfered.
Nevertheless, the Americans definitely get their money's worth when it comes to access.
We were told Air Force One needed to be up in the air by 3pm, so when we got taken into the Donald J Trump ballroom for a press conference at 2pm we weren't expecting much time.
But the President took pretty much every question he was asked. Some reporters managed three or four.
When he was asked about his relationship with Epstein, I was sure one of the White House PR folk would have whizzed in and ended the whole thing. But no, not then. They just let it run on.
It was getting to the point where we almost ran out of questions.
There were significant world-changing moments in the bizarrely opulent ballroom: the criticism of Putin and Netanyahu, for instance.
It was only when we left the press conference that we learned the bilateral between Sir Keir and Mr Trump had yet to take place.
Diplomacy is weird.