6 days ago
STEPHEN DAISLEY: If John Swinney fancies himself as a global statesman, it's time to put up or shut up
Donald Trump 's visit to Scotland is an opportunity – if we choose to grasp it. The US President is coming to Aberdeenshire for the grand opening of his Menie golf course, which joins Trump Turnberry in Ayrshire as part of his business empire.
Where goes Trump, so go dollars. The 79-year-old is the most powerful man in the world. One squiggle from his pen can authorise the spending of vast sums, erect or dismantle barriers to trade, and clear the path for private sector investment.
This weekend could be a godsend for Scotland's struggling business sector, pumping in much-needed cash and cracking open the door to new markets.
It's essential, then, that this visit is handled wisely. Some will turn up waving placards and Palestine flags, but no one with Scotland's interests at heart will have anything to do with such stunts. Trump will be a guest and should be accorded the respect the American President merits.
His doctrine is 'America First' and it means punishing nations he thinks are ripping off the US and rewarding those who deal fairly. Reward and punishment are the two pillars of the Trump administration and of his outlook on life.
Whether in the boardroom, the TV studio or the Oval Office, he has practised a carrot and stick philosophy. Do what he wants, and he will make it to your benefit. Cross him, and there will be a price to pay.
Trump's worldview is Manichean: you're either supportive, and ostentatiously so, or you're the enemy. There is no middle ground. In our personal lives, most of us would avoid such a volatile personality.
We would probably consider it the hallmark of a swaggering egomaniac who has gone through his life without hearing the word 'No' often enough.
But diplomacy is another world and different rules apply. Just as we roll out the red carpet for sundry despots and demagogues – President Outlawed-the-Opposition and Crown Prince No-Votes-For-Women – so too must we put on the niceties for heads of state of friendly democracies, no matter how distasteful we might find them personally or politically.
The Scottish Government wants to involve itself in international relations? This is the price. Suck up or go home.
That, frankly, is what the First Minister must do with Trump. He needn't prostrate himself. Diplomacy with dignity should be his strategy. Swinney should treat the President with all the respect he would have Barack Obama or another US politician more to his political liking.
Be gracious, welcome him warmly, laugh at his jokes and keep a game face the whole time. Don't allow the photographers to capture an incautious eye roll or the TV cameras to pick up an ill-considered mutter. Self-control and courtesy at all times.
Diplomacy also requires a certain razzmatazz. Schedules are already locked in for this visit, but Swinney should work with Downing Street on securing a future Scotland visit during which the Scottish Government could put on a proper show. Have a piper waiting to greet Trump on the tarmac, skirling a rendition of the Star-Spangled Banner.
Take him on a tour of the Irn-Bru factory in Cumbernauld, and try to change his mind about the other national drink. (The orange nectar was banned at Turnberry after guests spilled their drinks and stained the costly carpets.)
Trump places great stock in his mother, Mary Anne MacLeod, and her roots on the Isle of Lewis. He will be unveiling a new golf course at Menie which will have a memorial garden in her honour.
Swinney could announce a Mary Anne MacLeod bursary, additional financial support to help Lewis retain vital skills such as teaching or nursing. Pander to Trump but do so in a way that opponents can hardly complain about.
Flattering Trump's ego would require a great deal of pride to be swallowed but it could pay dividends in investment and preferential treatment secured for Scotland.
Not only for obvious sectors like tourism and whisky, either. Renewables, digital technology and life sciences are among the most common foreign industries for US investors, and Scotland has a good story to tell on all three. Attracting American cash would mean jobs and growth.
Another market where Trump could be useful is the creative industries. Scotland continues to attract Hollywood productions looking to film in cheaper locations than Los Angeles or New York.
The next Spider-Man movie, Spider-Man: Brand New Day starring Tom Holland, will do much of its location shooting in Glasgow, which will stand in for New York as it did in 2023's Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.
When I argued in the Mail four years ago that the Scottish Government should prioritise support for the screen industry, film production employed 4,000 people in Scotland and generated less than £100million annually. Today, it's 11,000 jobs and more than £600million.
However, the Trump administration's planned 100 per cent tariffs on US productions which shoot overseas could devastate Scotland's screen sector.
Here is another area where good relations with Trump could help us escape the worst of his policies and do so to the benefit of our pockets.
Swinney might not welcome this advice. He is not as stubbornly ideological on Trump as some of his MSPs and much of his party's grassroots, but given his Christian faith I doubt he thinks much of a man of Trump's character.
HE should take a lesson from Ian Murray, who has come in for some flak for talking up Trump's visit when he backed a motion in 2019 urging the UK Government to withdraw an invitation to the president. Some might see that as hypocrisy but it looks to me like political maturity.
It's easy to sound off when you're a backbencher and the world seems black and white, but ministerial office brings with it responsibility to interests higher than your self-righteousness.
Murray is putting the country and its political, economic and security interests ahead of his own misgivings. Swinney should do the same.
