Vance departed on Air Force Two just before 1pm on Sunday.
18:22, 17 Aug 2025Updated 18:22, 17 Aug 2025
US Vice President JD Vance(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
US Vice-President JD Vance has left Scotland after visiting for a private holiday.
Vance arrived at Prestwick Airport on Tuesday night in an official US plane for a four-day stay. A motorcade took him back to the airport with his family on Sunday morning.
He departed on Air Force Two just before 1pm. During his stay, he was spotted golfing at Donald Trump’s Turnberry golf course and at the Menie Estate in Aberdeenshire.
Vance had been holidaying in the Cotswolds but travelled to the Foreign Secretary’s Chevening House retreat in Kent on Friday, and he joined David Lammy carp fishing without the correct license at the countryside estate.
His return to the US will coincide with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and other world leaders, including Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, travelling to the White House for a meeting with Trump.
US Vice President JD Vance (L) playing a round of golf on the Alisa Course at the Trump Turnberry Golf courses(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
It comes after the US president’s summit with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday, where little in the way of progress appeared to be made.
Other leaders making the journey to Washington with Sir Keir include France’s Emmanuel Macron, Germany’s Friedrich Merz, Finland’s Alexander Stubb, EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and Nato chief Mark Rutte.
Meanwhile, police previously confirmed they were establishing a “significant policing operation” prior to Vance’s arrival.
He was met with campaigners from Mothers Against Genocide, who held a protest against his visit outside the Carnell Estate in Ayrshire – where he had been staying – on Wednesday morning.
Activists were encouraged to bring “pots, pans and Palestine flags” to make noise for the people of Gaza.
Images from outside the estate showed pro-Palestine protestors, who accused Vance of supporting a “genocide” by Israel in Gaza, being penned in by officers while they awaited Vance’s arrival.
Ahead of his visit, Green MSP Gillian Mackay accused him of lying about Scotland.
Armed cops at the air traffic control tower overlooking Glasgow Prestwick Airport amid Vance’s arrival to Scotland(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
She told the Record: “JD Vance has made a career of spreading misinformation and sowing mistrust in order to gain power and influence.
“The Vice President’s absurd lies haven’t just been about eating cats and dogs in Ohio – he has lied about Scotland.”
In February, Vance was slammed for using a major speech in Munich to wrongly suggest Scots could face prosecution for praying in their own homes while he attacked what he viewed as an erosion of free speech across Europe.
Vance departed Prestwick Airport on Air Force Two(Image: PA)
He pointed to the introduction of buffer zones around Scottish abortion clinics as an example of the kind of crackdown he feared.
The law prevents any public protests or vigils from taking place within 200m (656ft) of 30 clinics around the country, but it does not prohibit anyone from praying within their own homes.
Mackay continued: “Earlier this year, JD Vance made false claims on an international stage about Scotland’s buffer zones law, which prevents harassment and intimidation of patients outside abortion clinics, a bill proudly passed by the Scottish Greens.”