US president-elect does not deny pushing interim leader Nigel Farage and key associates to fight development of windfarms in Scotland

Donald Trump urged the interim leader of a British political party and his key associates to lobby against the development of windfarms, which he has fought against having built near his Scottish golf courses.

Donald Trump drops threat of criminal investigation into Hillary Clinton – live Read more

The president-elect said he was “dismayed that his beloved Scotland has become overrun with ugly wind farms which he believes are a blight on the stunning landscape”, according to a member of the delegation that came with the UKIP leader, Nigel Farage, to meet Trump on the first weekend after his shock election win.



Andy Wigmore, the communications director for Leave.EU – the successful Brexit campaign led by Farage – said Trump urged the group, which included UKIP’s major donor Arron Banks, to campaign against the spread of windfarms in Scotland.

“He has a bugbear,” Wigmore said. “He doesn’t like windfarms at all. He said ‘When I look out of my window and I see these windmills, it offends me. Nigel, Arron, Andy, you have got to do something about these windmills.’

“He said: ‘Let’s put them offshore, but why spoil the beautiful countryside.’ So he has asked us to campaign about getting rid of windfarms in the way they currently stand. I don’t want Scotland, the most beautiful country ever to be sullied by these awful windmills.”

Nick Eardley (@nickeardleybbc) .@realDonaldTrump used meeting with @Nigel_Farage to renew criticism of wind farms in Scotland, says attendee @andywigmore pic.twitter.com/1FQS6d0HWg

Trump did not dispute the conversation during a meeting with New York Times staff on Tuesday, according to journalist Maggie Haberman. She tweeted:

Trump’s complex web of investments and potential conflicts of interest around the world are coming under increasing scrutiny. The president-elect is involved in at least 16 partnerships or corporations in India alone, the Washington Post reported, and he met with developers from a project in India even after winning the election.

The paper also noted that about 100 foreign diplomats gathered at Trump’s new luxury hotel in Washington, close to the White House, last weekend, apparently in the hope of earning his approbation.

On Monday his aides and a spokesperson for the Argentinian president, Mauricio Macri, were forced to deny rumours that the pair discussed stalled permits for Trump buildings when Macri called to congratulate him on the election result.

The New York Post’s editorial board wrote on Tuesday: “Of all the issues facing the president-elect and his brain trust, the question of how to avoid conflicts of interest with his global business may be the thorniest.”



Trump has stated that he will hand over management of the Trump Organization to his children but it was notable this his daughter Ivanka was present at a meeting with the Japanese prime minister, Shinzo Abe.

In his discussion with the New York Times, Trump seemed to shrug off the potential conflicts of interest. According to Haberman’s Twitter feed, he said: “The law’s totally on my side, the president can’t have a conflict of interest.”



He added: “In theory I could run my business perfectly and then run the country perfectly. There’s never been a case like this.”

In the UK, Trump has been involved in long-running rows over the impact of wind farms on his Scottish golf courses and in December lost a supreme court battle against an experimental offshore array being built in the North Sea several miles off his links course in Aberdeenshire.



Donald Trump aide says he has no intention of trying to jail Hillary Clinton Read more

His comments about windfarms suggest he may be ready to reignite the dispute from the White House and have raised concerns they may strengthen a renewed lobbying effort in Britain against wind energy. They follow Trump’s campaign threat to abandon the international Paris climate change agreement.



“Politics should not determine the future of our energy mix,” said Emma Pinchbeck, executive director of Renewable UK which represents the windfarm industry. “Offshore wind is massively popular – 75% of people in the UK support it. It’s also a vital part of our modern energy system and it’s playing a key role in Britain’s industrial success, both here and abroad.”

She said “a populist politician might want to back technologies with public support and which offer good value to the taxpayer”.

Vattenfall, the Swedish energy company which runs the Aberdeenshire array, has already begun onshore construction work less than five miles south of Trump’s resort. It is co-funded by the European Union and the Scottish government and foundations for the first turbines are expected to be installed later next year, with turbines generating power from summer 2018.

A spokesman for Vattenfall said: “We’re pressing ahead because we believe that that way is substantially closed. We don’t think there’s any further opportunity for anyone to bring a legal challenge. I’m not a legal expert but that’s the advice we’ve received.”



