SCOTLAND’S First Minister John Swinney has denied ploughing Scottish government cash into a golf tournament to “butter up” Donald Trump.

The SNP leader had come under fire after announcing, just hours after the US president’s arrival in Scotland, £180,000 of state funding for the Nexo Championship, due to be held at Trump International Links next month.

The controversy deepened further on Tuesday when Mr Swinney was forced to bat off claims made by Mr Trump that former Bond star and SNP stalwart Sean Connery helped swing planning permission from the Scottish government for the Aberdeenshire golf resort in 2008.

Asked if the cash for the golf tournament was an attempt to “butter up” Mr Trump, Mr Swinney hit back: “No, I think what I was trying to do is to make sure that a tournament that was coming to Scotland could be properly promoted.

“It’s coming here, we’ve essentially intervened to secure a tournament quite late in the day.”

Arguing that similar deals had been done for the Royal and Ancient Golf Club (R&A) in St Andrews, he added: “If the principle is good enough for the R&A, it’s good enough for Trump International.”

On the meetings between the pair, which included dining with the Prime Minister on Monday evening, as well as a 15-minute formal discussion the following morning, Mr Swinney added: “We talked well about the issues that matter to the people of Scotland.

“He has a deep affinity with Scotland, so he’s got a warmth and an empathy towards Scotland and he was interested in all the issues that I was raising about Scotland.

“So I think we had a very welcome opportunity to engage in dialogue and to build a relationship.”