Joe Biden perhaps took in more of the local sights while in Scotland than he may have wished after reports of a “large, naked, Scottish man” taking pictures of the U.S. president’s motorcade while it was travelling between Edinburgh and Glasgow.
BBC journalist Jon Sopel quoted a White House pool report on Tuesday: “‘At one point when we were still on smaller country roads, a large, naked Scottish man stood in his front window taking a picture of the motorcade with his phone.'”
“Welcome to Scotland, Mr President,” the BBC North America Editor remarked.
The Edinburgh Evening News added to the report that on Monday night, Edinburgh residents had seen a petrol station closed off as the president’s motorcade — including the gas-guzzling limousine “Cadillac 1”, or “The Beast” — was seen refuelling before travelling on to the United Nations COP26 climate conference in Glasgow.
The Mirror reported on the hypocrisy of President Joe Biden’s “climate crisis” message and being towed in a vehicle that is believed to do only around eight miles to the gallon and generates around 8.75lb of carbon per mile, some ten times more than the average car.
The left-wing tabloid noted that The Beast was accompanied by its decoy and two other “huge” SUVs as part of the 20-vehicle motorcade. It reported the president had been criticised for staying 45 miles away from the climate conference location, with his motorcade plus British police escort adding to his carbon footprint.
During his speech to the climate summit panel on Tuesday — at which he arrived some 20 minutes late — President Biden claimed that his “administration is working overtime to show that our climate commitment is action, not words”.
Earlier reports claimed that around 400 private aircraft would be ferrying people to Glasgow for the climate conference, spewing out a combined 13,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide in total. Other reports alleged the emissions from the private jets would be greater than the CO2 produced by Scots in a year.
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