‘I think it’s actually quite offensive’
Donald Trump’s vice-presidential pick, JD Vance, has said the UK could become the first ‘truly Islamist country that will get a nuclear weapon’ under the new Labour government.
Vance, a junior senator for the State of Ohio, made the comments last week at the National Conservatism conference and last night he was announced as Trump’s running mate.
He said: “I have to beat up on the UK – just one additional thing. I was talking with a friend recently and we were talking about, you know, one of the big dangers in the world, of course, is nuclear proliferation, though, of course, the Biden administration doesn’t care about it.
“And I was talking about, you know, what is the first truly Islamist country that will get a nuclear weapon, and we were like, maybe it’s Iran, you know, maybe Pakistan already kind of counts, and then we sort of finally decided maybe it’s actually the UK, since Labour just took over.”
Senior figures in the Labour party have refuted that statement. Deputy Prime Minister, Angela Rayner told ITV: “I don’t recognise that characterisation. I’m very proud of the election success that Labour had recently. We won votes across all different communities, across the whole of the country, and we’re interested in governing on behalf of Britain and working with our international allies.”
Meanwhile, the Treasury minister James Murray said: “I don’t know what he was driving at in that comment, to be honest. I mean, in Britain, we’re very proud of our diversity.”
Even Andrew Bowie, the shadow veterans minister jumped to Labour’s defence saying he ‘absolutely’ disagreed that Labour would create an ‘Islamist country’. He told Times Radio: “I disagree with the Labour party fundamentally on many issues, but I do not agree with that view, quite frankly. I think it’s actually, quite offensive, frankly, to my colleagues in the Labour party.”
However, the foreign secretary, David Lammy has previously referred to Vance as a friend, though has been critical of ex-President Trump during his time as a backbench MP, saying: “Trump is not only a woman-hating, neo-Nazi-sympathising sociopath. He is also a profound threat to the international order that has been the foundation of western progress for so long.”
His running mate, Vance, has also been critical of the former President though. In 2016 he wrote: “Trump makes people I care about afraid. Immigrants, Muslims, etc. Because of this I find him reprehensible. God wants better of us.”
Lammy has since suggested the UK and US find ways to work together as a potential return to presidency for Trump edges closer.
