Ben Leo must be a glutton for punishment. The upstart GB News presenter arrived at the scene of a major protest in Edinburgh, looking to challenge the demonstrators who oppose Donald Trump’s visit to Scotland this weekend. However, he ended up getting a few earfuls.
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GB News presenter heckled by protesters in Scotland
The protest, which also veered towards a pro-Palestinian movement, attracted hundreds of people on Saturday. Trump is in the UK for talks with both the EU Commissioner Ursula von der Layen, and Prime Minister Keir Starmer within the next 48 hours.
It’s understood that the US and EU are looking to secure a trade deal, which would spare the trading bloc from incurring a 30% tariff on all goods exported stateside. Trump has told reporters, in his own grammatic style, that the Union is looking to “get a deal done, very badly”.
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Discussions with Sir Keir are expected to be more wide-ranging, with some media outlets claiming that the Israel-Palestine conflict will be top of the agenda. Starmer finds himself under pressure to recognised Palestinian statehood, following Emmanuel Macron’s declaration last week.
The prospect of Trump lending his support to this course of action still seems like a long shot. But frustrations are growing in the White House over Israel’s hard-line stance on allowing aid into Gaza, where dozens of people are now dying of starvation as a result of the blockade.
GB News presenter branded ‘t**t’, ‘a***hole’ by protesters
Among the protesters on the streets yesterday, some decided to ditch all diplomatic means, and instead sparked a war of words with Ben Leo. The GB News presenter certainly did nothing to diffuse the situation, and reported hearing chants of ‘death to the IDF’.
However, the vitriol was soon aimed in his direction. Various people confronted Mr. Leo, with one protester gleefully stating that he was calling him ‘a t**t’ beforehand, then repeated his stance once more. Another gentleman accused the news host of ‘acting like an a***hole’.
No-one says what they mean quite like the Scots…