Donald Trump retains moaning about Starmer not drilling for oil – however not for the explanation you suppose
Donald Trump’s deep desire for the UK to allow firms to “drill baby drill” in the North Sea is the end product of a feud he’s had brewing for more than a decade, which involves golf, Alex Salmond and dead birds
Trump keeps ribbing Starmer over North Sea oil(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
Donald Trump keeps attacking the UK for not drilling for oil in the North Sea – but not for the reason you think.
Today he renewed his complaints about the UK’s decision not to grant new licences for drilling off the coast of Scotland. He told Fox Business News: “They have the North Sea, in Aberdeen Scotland. It’s one of the biggest, most incredible oil fields anywhere in the world, it’s got hundreds of years left. And you know what they do? They closed it because …they want so much, the oil companies are begging them. You know, they called me, they’re begging, ‘please speak to them’. They made it impossible because of the environmentalists, the horrible environmentalists that hurt that country so badly.”
And yesterday he posted on Truth Social: “Europe is desperate for Energy, and yet the United Kingdom refuses to open North Sea Oil, one of the greatest fields in the World. Tragic!!! Aberdeen should be booming. Norway sells its North Sea Oil to the U.K. at double the price. They are making a fortune. U.K., which is better situated on the North Sea for purposes of energy than Norway, should, DRILL, BABY, DRILL!!!”
Now, there are two obvious reasons you might think Trump is so enthusiastic about North Sea drilling. The best reason is that global oil prices have skyrocketed since he started bombing Iran, and Iran blocked off the Strait of Hormuz. Having a productive oil field somewhere that is not the Middle East, run by an ally, would be pretty helpful to America. But that’s not the reason.
The other reason is, as he indicated in his Fox interview, the companies who would benefit from licences in the North Sea would include a great number of American firms. But that’s not the reason either.
Nope, Trump is mad about it because of a legal tiff he got into with the Scottish Government more than a decade ago over his golf courses. See, Trump has two resorts in Scotland, one of which is in Aberdeenshire. He bought the Menie estate, about eight miles north of Aberdeen, in 2006 – but soon learned of plans to build an offshore wind farm a mile off the coast, right next to the course. Trump felt the “windmills” would ruin the view from his “world’s greatest” golf course.
So he took the Scottish Government to court – with the case eventually making it up to the UK Supreme Court. He even gave a memorable turn at the Scottish Parliament’s Tourism Committee, where he argued windfarms would be the death of the Scotland’s tourism industry. Asked to provide evidence of his claims that wind turbines, among other things, kill thousands of birds, he declared: “I am the evidence.” He was so upset about it that, as the Mirror revealed in 2017, he allegedly paid students £20 to protest outside the Scottish Parliament – although the Trump Organisation denied the claim.
Anyway, Trump lost his appeal to the Supreme Court in 2015 and 11 turbines were built. By 2018 they were generating enough electricity to supply 80,000 homes – and the facility has been used as a test and demonstration facility for new technology. A two-year study of the site next to his golf course did not record a single bird being killed by the turbines.
