Scottish university withdraws Trump’s honorary degree

A Scottish university has revoked an honorary degree it awarded to Donald Trump amid an outcry over a call by the Republican presidential frontrunner to bar Muslims from entering the United States.

“In the course of the current US election campaign, Mr Trump has made a number of statements that are wholly incompatible with the ethos and values of the university,” said a spokesman for Robert Gordon University in a statement on Wednesday.

“The university has therefore decided to revoke its award of the honorary degree.”

The university, based in the northern Scottish city of Aberdeen, awarded Trump an honorary doctorate of business administration in October 2010.

Earlier, the Scottish regional government sacked Trump as a business ambassador, saying the property tycoon was “no longer fit” to hold the position.

The billionaire, who has ancestral roots in Scotland, owns golf courses and hotels in the country.

A call by Trump for a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States” provoked widespread criticism in Britain, and a petition to bar the billionaire from the United Kingdom has attracted more than 235,000 signatures in 24 hours.