SNP Commons leader Stephen Flynn has been branded a ‘hypocrite’ after he enjoyed a £14,000 junket paid for by Donald Trump’s government, despite criticism of the President.

Mr Flynn, touted as a future leader of the SNP, enjoyed a two-week stay in the US just months after calling on Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to cancel Mr Trump’s state visit to Britain.

The MP for Aberdeen South, who now plans to stand for the Scottish Parliament, was in Washington from February 21 to March 8 as part of an ‘international visitor leadership programme’ run by the US Government. 

He accepted accommodation and domestic flights worth $4,400 (£3,242) to attend the event.

He also racked up $2,000 (£1,474) in transportation costs, $1,100 (£811) for meals and was given a $200 (£147) ‘cultural allowance’.

With other expenses the total donation from the US came to $18,425 (£13,948).

Scottish Tory Liam Kerr, who is standing against Mr Flynn in next month’s Holyrood election in Aberdeen Deeside & North Kincardine, accused him of ‘self-serving opportunism’. 

Mr Kerr said: ‘Even from someone as shameless as Stephen Flynn, this looks like breathtaking hypocrisy. All it took to silence his supposedly principled attacks on the Trump administration was a luxury freebie at their expense. He always looks after No1.’

The leadership programme is run by the US Department of State. Participants are handpicked by American embassies around the world as likely future leaders to ‘build long-term relationships’ with.

In March last year Mr Flynn said Mr Trump’s invitation to visit the UK in September of that same year should be rescinded.

However, he did not seek to criticise the US bombardment of Iran, which broke out on February 28 during his trip to Washington.

First Minister John Swinney and SNP colleagues have denounced the US and Israeli military action. However, Mr Flynn’s first comment on the war, either in person or on social media, didn’t come until March 11, after he had returned from Washington.

Addressing Sir Keir at Prime Minister’s Questions, he thundered that the war was ‘illegal’ and ‘insane’.

Details of the Nationalist MP’s trip to the US were published last Monday, the same day he berated the Prime Minister in the Commons for failing to offer ‘explicit condemnation of the illegality of Donald Trump’s actions’.

Mr Flynn stated that his time in the US included ‘numerous engagements’ in the US with ‘various stakeholders operating in the energy and economy sectors’.

An SNP spokesman said: ‘The energy sector is intrinsically important to Scotland’s economy, and Stephen Flynn welcomed the opportunity to be invited to engage with individuals and businesses in the US on those matters.

‘Stephen Flynn will continue to engage with political leaders from across the world to advance Scotland’s interests. He has been, and will continue to be, a vocal critic of the illegal actions of the Trump administration in Iran.’