Donald Trump blasted by his mum's Scots island community for 'never giving a penny'

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Residents on the Hebridean island where Donald Trump's mother was born claim the ex-President is "feeding" off of his sister and mother's "name".

Locals in Tong, on the Isle of Lewis, say the American politician "never gave a penny" back to the rural community unlike his older sister Maryanne Trump Barry and mum Mary Anne McLeod Trump.

Those who live in the small village north of Stornoway, the largest settlement on the island, told how his mother Mary gave donations to build a village hall there in the 1970s and his sister Maryanne also gave £155,000 for a care home and Bethesda hospice in the area.

Some on the island say her brother Donald, who rarely visits Scotland, is "feeding off her name and the good she did".

Bethesda Hospice chief executive Carol Somerville told The Scotsman: "She [Maryanne] wanted something tangible on the island in memory of her mother - she didn't want any publicity and was very low key about it all. She was very down to earth.

"She really saw what we needed here. It's not Trump that deserves any accolade at all. He never gave us a penny, and he's feeding off her name and the good she did."

The Murray family, who are understood to be relatives of the Trump family and live in Mary's childhood home, said they had "no comment to make about Domhnall Iain" as Trump would be called in Gaelic.

Businessman Trump is known for boasting of his "Scottish-ness" and affiliation with the country.

Despite this, he has only visited his mother's village twice, the last time in 2008. Mr Trump, known as Donald John to islanders, apparently boasted of his Scottish-ness after landing at Stornoway airport in a Boeing 727 with "TRUMP" splashed across the fuselage in gold.

"I think this land is special," he told journalists at the time. "I think Scotland is special, and I wanted to do something special for my mother."

He stopped on the island for about three hours en route to give evidence at a public inquiry into his contentious inaugural Aberdeenshire golf course. He spent even less time inside his mother's birthplace, visiting for just 97 seconds for a photo, islanders said.

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Earlier this month the Trump team announced a new 18-hole golf course is set to open in Aberdeenshire next summer and will be named the MacLeod course, after his mother. Lewis local Derick Mackenzie, who founded the 'Isle of Lewis Supports President Trump' Facebook page, said he doesn't blame Trump for his fleeting visit to Tong.

He said: "Trump's life is full of adrenalin, and he comes here to this backwater on the fringes of humanity, and there's not much happening," he told me. I am not surprised he didn't hang around. He's a big celebrity, and his relatives are very reticent and don't want to be in the spotlight. I actually felt sorry for him being put on the spot. His flamboyant personality doesn't go with Tong. The whole situation was just quite sad, and only worthy of being forgotten."

Donald Trump's mother Mary fled the island aged 17 to pursue the American dream in New York.

She left in the 1920s, during a time that was common for young Scots to leave for the United States or Canada having suffered badly the consequences of the Highland Clearances and World War 1.

Mary's life went from working the land to millionaire riches in New York after she met real-estate developer Fred Trump, and transformed herself from a domestic servant to suburban socialite in the Land of the Free.

Two sisters, who wanted to remain anonymous, told me of their memories growing up seeing Mary, who was friends with their late aunt, on return visits to the island.

"This great big car would turn up and take up the whole road," one of them said. "This was in the late 50s when she came back here on holiday and she would come and visit my aunt. They went to school together and were friends. She would step out the car and she was so glamorous. Money was no object to them. They stood out from us."

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