Speaking on BBC’s Question Time, held in Glasgow on Thursday, Lorna Slater, co-leader of the Scottish Greens, took aim at Donald Trump and Elon Musk in a powerful dig
QT: Scottish Greens’ Lorna Slater on Trump’s Gaza stance
A panellist on last night’s Question Time blasted Donald Trump and Elon Musk – in a furious tirade which was greeted by rapturous applause.
The audience reacted warmly to the co-leader of the Scottish Greens, Lorna Slater’s rant about the the US President and his billionaire friend. Ms Slater, 49, alluded to Mr Trump’s announcement the United States intends to “take over and own” the Gaza Strip, suggesting all Palestinians should be relocated from the conflict-afflicted territory into “a beautiful area”.
The Member of Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Lothian described what she believes is the “full horror” of Mr Trump’s “ethnic cleansing” and “erasing of a state” in the State of Palestine.
Speaking on the topical debate show, this week held in Glasgow, Ms Slater said: “Ethnic cleansing doesn’t capture the full horror of trying to erase a state, to erase people and that is after 15 months of bombardment, in which their homes have been laid to rumble. About half of the 45,000 deaths were women and children, who were held collectively responsible for the heinous atrocities that Hamas committed.
“During that bombardment, they had water withheld, food withheld, medical care withheld from them. Now they are being told Donald Trump is going to remove Palestine from the map entirely, remove Palestinians from Palestine so that he and his billionaire pals can build a resort! I think the sensible question is not only ‘Who elected Donald Trump’ but ‘Who elected Elon Musk?'”
The audience clapped as the politician, former Minister for Green Skills, Circular Economy and Biodiversity in the Scottish Government, made the swipe at Mr Trump and Mr Musk’s ruse.
Mr Trump, 78, would “violate international law” with the move, an expert told the Mirror this week. Inderjeet Parmar, professor of International Politics at the City, University of London, said: “President Trump by speaking about Gaza as in need of ‘cleaning up’ has raised the spectre of ethnic cleansing of Palestinians – the mass removal of the population – which is a violation of international law. He’s effectively ramped up a process supported by the Biden administration that enabled the Israeli state’s war on Gaza since October 2023.”
It was an opinion echoed by Ms Slater whose rant was followed on the show by further anger about Mr Trump. Newspaper columnist Alex Massie called the US President a “showman” but Scottish Conservatives’ Russell Findlay stressed “diplomacy goes a long way” when working with Mr Trump – or the UK will face detrimental consequences.
He added: “Donald Trump does bear grudges and he does listen to what people say about him, and we have to be conscious of the fact that he is on the rampage in respect of tariffs. There is a very real chance he might seek to apply tariffs on the United Kingdom and that could potentially have a great impact on Scottish jobs, diectly in relation to the Scotch whisky industry… We recognise the fact that he does have this power and we engage diplomatically at all levels.”
