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The Liberal Democrats are calling for a formal inquiry into allegations that the government exerted influence to secure the UK’s premier golf tournament for a course owned by Donald Trump.
Turnberry, a golf course in Ayrshire, Scotland, has been under President Trump’s ownership since 2014. He has reportedly expressed interest in having the venue host the 2028 Open Championship.
Earlier this year, BBC Sport reported that sources indicated the UK government had approached the R&A, the governing body of golf, to gauge their position on the matter.
Calum Miller, the Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesperson, stated that the government’s new ethics body, scheduled to launch next month, should investigate these claims.
Speaking at the party’s annual conference in Bournemouth, Miller described it as “shocking” that ministers had seemingly “appealed to the personal financial interests of an American president to curry favour”.
In April, the government responded to reports that President Trump had discussed the matter with Sir Keir Starmer by stating that the R&A holds sole responsibility for deciding tournament hosts.
Turnberry has previously hosted the Open Championship four times, most recently in 2009.
The government announced plans in July for a new Ethics and Integrity Commission, intended “to drive up standards in public life”.
Miller asserted that ministers “must show that this commission can truly protect our values from foreign corruption” and urged the government “to refer its own lobbying over Turnberry as the first case for investigation”.
He also accused the Labour Party of being “willing to do almost anything to appease Donald Trump”.
When initial reports surfaced regarding discussions between Sir Keir Starmer and President Trump about the tournament, a spokesperson for the prime minister did not deny that conversations had occurred. They clarified that any engagement between ministers and sporting bodies was “part of the business of government” and did not extend to hosting decisions.
The spokesperson added: “Obviously the government is in regular contact with sporting bodies on tournaments in the usual way but not beyond that.”
The government maintains that the new ethics commission will “have an ambitious remit to uphold the highest ethical standards across the public sector”.
Requests for comment from the government are pending.
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