HE IS the previously unknown farmer whose David and Goliath battles with one of the world’s richest men helped put a corner of Aberdeenshire on the global map. Now Michael Forbes, whose tussles with Donald Trump were captured on film in an award-winning documentary, has been named the “Top Scot” of the year, ahead of other contenders like Billy Connolly, Andy Murray and Sir Chris Hoy.

Mr Forbes – who won the award after an open public ballot – had consistently refused to move out of his crofter’s house and sell his land, which was ­famously branded a “pigsty” by Trump, to make way for the tycoon’s golf course development. Last night Mr Forbes, 60, who says he still lives with the threat of eviction by Trump ­International, was honoured at the Glenfiddich Spirit of Scotland Awards, along with Scotland’s Olympic heroes, film actress Kelly Macdonald, Gaelic singer Julie Fowlis and author Ewan Morrison.

DONALD Trump today announced he is to ban all the whiskies produced by one of Scotland’s leading distillery companies in retaliation for Glenfiddich awarding its Top Scot accolade to Michael Forbes, the salmon fisherman on the Menie estate he once branded a “village idiot.” The billionaire tycoon, who has been at loggerheads with his kilted nemesis since Mr Forbes refused to sell his home to make way for Trump’s £750 million golf resort in Aberdeenshire, is also calling for a global boycott of the whiskies produced by William Grant and Sons, branding them the “bad liquor company.” Trump issued a statement today, announcing his ban on William Grant and Son whiskies at Trump properties after launching a vitriolic Twitter tirade against Glenfiddich, claiming the company’s decision to award Mr Forbes the “Top Scot” of the year accolade, ahead of other contenders like Billy Connolly, Andy Murray and Sir Chris Hoy, was a “publicity stunt”.

A spokesman for William Grant and Sons said: “We understand that there may have been some confusion and misunderstanding concerning the structure and running of the Glenfiddich Spirit of Scotland Awards. Working with Scotsman Publications as our media partner, Glenfiddich established the awards fifteen years ago. From the outset it was made clear that winners would be chosen by public vote. Top Scot is a totally open category in which the people of Scotland can vote for whomsoever they choose and Glenfiddich has no influence on this decision. Throughout the awards fifteen-year history Glenfiddich and its media partner The Scotsman have always honoured the public’s decision and the individual with the most votes has received the accolade."

A LEADING figure in the golf world, who edits one of the sport’s top magazines with a readership around 500,000, is calling for a boycott of Donald Trump’s Scottish course. Bill Elliott – editor-at-large of Golf Monthly – has vowed never to set foot on the course after watching the documentary You’ve Been Trumped, broadcast by the BBC in October. And the influential chairman of the Association of Golf Writers urges the publication’s readers to do the same, saying: “I suggest you join me.”

Mr Elliott said the Trump Organisation’s “nastiness” over a row with neighbouring residents on the Menie Estate had shocked him. He wrote: “By all accounts, this is a seriously brilliant links. Opened in the summer, the plaudits for it have been almost overwhelmingly in their positivity. Despite this, I’ll never play it. Why? Because I watched, along with almost a million others, the documentary You’ve Been Trumped on television. Even allowing for the fact that it was a one-sided film, it was impossible not to be shocked by the tactics used to try to intimidate a few local residents who refused to sell their homes. This intimidation apparently goes on.”