US President Donald Trump gave a rather humdrum impersonation of the late Scottish actor Sean Connery while opening his new golf course in Scotland.
Trump delivered his impression of the James Bond star while speaking to guests and media members at Trump International Golf Links in Aberdeenshire on Tuesday.
‘So I just want to thank everybody. This has been an unbelievable development. The land, they said, couldn’t get zoned, it was an impossibility,’ said Trump.
‘And Sean Connery said: “Let the bloody bloke build his golf course.”
‘Once he said that, everything came into line.’
Trump’s attempt at speaking like Connery did not elicit laughter from the crowd.
Scottish First Minister John Swinney, standing behind the president, smiled slightly with his mouth closed, but only briefly.
It was not the first time that the president has credited Connery for helping his development get across the finish line.
In a tribute to him after he died in 2020, Trump called him ‘the legendary actor, 007 Sean Connery’ and ‘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,”‘ Trump said at the time.
‘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.’
Connery in 2008 reportedly said of Trump’s project: ‘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.’
However, the Aberdeenshire councillor who headed the planning committee that first rejected Trump’s application for the golf resort said that Connery was not involved in the decision to ultimately give him permission to build it.
‘He did not submit a letter of representation to the council, appear at the planning hearing, or at the public local inquiry,’ Martin Ford told the Guardian of Connery.
‘Opinions offered in press articles are not material considerations in decisions on planning applications.’
And David Milne, a neighbour of the golf resort, said Trump’s claim that Connery helped him receive planning permits was ‘utter bollocks’.
Trump celebrated his golf course opening four days after touching down in Scotland and playing a round of golf at his Turnberry course, with footage circulating social media showing him allegedly cheating by having his caddie hit for him.
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