London-Presumptive U.S. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has announced that he will visit Britain on June 24 to open a newly-renovated Scottish golf course, the day after the landmark EU membership referendum.
“I own it and I am very proud of it. I look forward to attending the official opening of this great development on June 24th,” Trump said in a statement on Wednesday.
His visit would come the same day the result of the crucial vote on the referendum on Britain’s membership in the European Union is expected.
It would also come against the backdrop of differences with British Prime Minister David Cameron.
Trump said last month that he would not likely have good relations with Cameron after the British premier told MPs that Trump’s comments on Muslims were “divisive, stupid and wrong.”
“I think if he came to visit our country, he would unite us all against him,” Cameron said at the time.
The presidential candidate has called for a ban on Muslims entering the United States.
A spokesman for Cameron’s Downing Street office told Asharq Al-Awsat there was “no fixed date” for the two men to meet during Trump’s visit to Britain.
Trump had previously visited a Scottish golf course in July 2015 to attend a tournament.
Since then, he has come under heavy criticism for his proposal to stop Muslims from entering the United States.
In a related development, French President Francois Hollande voiced hope that Britons “will remember” their close ties to Europe when they vote in the June 23 referendum on EU membership.
“We are as united as we have ever been,” Hollande said after joining a ceremonial first train ride through the world’s longest tunnel as it opened in Switzerland.
“I hope that the British will remember (that closeness) when the day comes” to cast their vote, he said.
Hollande drew a parallel between the construction of the 57-kilometer Gotthard Base Tunnel (GBT), which opened under the Swiss Alps, with another trailblazing project, the Channel Tunnel.
“Nobody imagined that it would be possible one day to travel from France to England in this way,” Hollande said.