Despite famously telling a nurse who hadn’t had a pay rise in 8 years that there was no ‘magic money tree’, and in spite of 10 years of devastating cuts to vital public services such as the NHS and schools, the Conservative government have today promised a whopping £5m of taxpayer’s money specifically to enable Donald Trump to play golf during his planned visit to the UK later this month.
In a letter posted to Twitter, the Tory Treasury Secretary Liz Truss told the Scottish Government’s new Justice Secretary, Humza Yousaf, that the UK Conservative government would set aside the £5m needed to police Donald Trump, should the US President fancy playing a spot of golf at any of his resorts in Scotland.
https://twitter.com/trussliz/status/1014118236005306369
Although exact details of the visit are yet to be confirmed, Trump is reportedly planning to visit his luxury golf resort at Turnberry following his scheduled meeting with Theresa May later in July.
The US President is also said to be planning to play golf with an as yet unnamed celebrity – widely believed to be Prince Andrew – at another of his golf courses in Menie, North of Aberdeen, at some time during his UK visit.
The interim Chief Constable of Police Scotland, Iain Livingstone, last week estimated that Trump’s rumoured golfing trip to the region would require an extra 5,000 police officers at a cost of £5m.
But following a letter sent by Scottish Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf to the Tories, the UK government have now confirmed that they will give the magic money tree a shake in order to enable Trump’s extravagantly expensive golfing trip to become a reality later this month.
As Scotland’s Police Force is devolved, the Tories had initially indicated that the they would not be willing to stump up the cash.
However, following Truss’s admission that the UK government would be using taxpayer’s money to foot the bill and not the Scottish government, Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon took to Twitter to declare a victory:
Big result for new @scotgov Justice Secretary @HumzaYousaf – standing up for Scotland’s police. https://t.co/bkg3P21jGj
— Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) July 3, 2018
However, Labour’s Justice Spokesman, Daniel Johnson, indicated last week that rather than either the UK government or Scottish government using taxpayer’s money to pay for extra security, the White House instead should be made to pay for additional security for Trump’s golfing trip.
Even in normal times, a government choosing to spend a huge sum of money to pay for a widely-loathed politician to play golf would go down like a lead balloon. But after 10 years of crushing austerity, where ordinary British workers have seen their wages fall whilst the cost of living has risen exponentially, such a ridiculously frivolous use of public money has unsurprisingly been met with absolute derision:
A lot of people will rightly be asking why there is no money for nurses when Theresa May can find the magic money tree to foot the bill for a £5m golfing trip for Trump in Scotland https://t.co/gLZZ3UFJEf
— Peter Stefanovic (@PeterStefanovi2) July 4, 2018
Totally irresponsible. Why should the UK pay for him having a holiday?
— Robin Vyrnwy-Pierce #ReportAntiSemitism (@Rhobyngoch) July 4, 2018
https://twitter.com/The80sBoy/status/1014421769875283968
https://twitter.com/want2laugh/status/1014415984889925635
https://twitter.com/glassspider_cp/status/1014429402795597825
Apparently there’s no magic money tree when it comes to ordinary people. But when it comes to pampering and pandering to their gilded mates – whether it’s the £369m of taxpayer’s money the Tories have found to renovate Buckingham Palace, or this latest £5m for Trump’s completely unnecessary golfing trip – the Tories never cease to be a shining beacon of utter duplicitousness.
