JD Vance said the UK was the first ‘Islamist country’ to get a nuclear weapon after Labour won power
Good morning. Yesterday Donald Trump named the Ohio senator JD Vance as his vice presidential running mate and very quickly attention focused on what this might mean for the UK. David Lammy, the new foreign secretary, knows Vance quite well and his praised his memoir about growing up poor, Hillbilly Elegy (“These are themes in my own political story,” Lammy told Politico). But we have not heard yet what Lammy has to say about Vance telling the National Conservatism conference recently that, with Labour now in power, Britain could end up as “the first truly Islamist country” with a nuclear weapon.
Looking at the clip, it was clearly more of a joke rather than a prediction. But jokes can be provocative, dangerous and offensive, and they reveal a lot about what people think. Daniel Finkelstein, the Times columnist and Conservative party peer, has described this as an “outrageous racist comment”.
Well, I think he said quite a lot of fruity things in the past as well. Look, I don’t recognize 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 also working with our international allies.
So I look forward to that meeting [with Vance] if that is the result [ie if Trump wins]. It’s up to the American people to decide.
Continue reading…JD Vance said the UK was the first ‘Islamist country’ to get a nuclear weapon after Labour won powerGood morning. Yesterday Donald Trump named the Ohio senator JD Vance as his vice presidential running mate and very quickly attention focused on what this might mean for the UK. David Lammy, the new foreign secretary, knows Vance quite well and his praised his memoir about growing up poor, Hillbilly Elegy (“These are themes in my own political story,” Lammy told Politico). But we have not heard yet what Lammy has to say about Vance telling the National Conservatism conference recently that, with Labour now in power, Britain could end up as “the first truly Islamist country” with a nuclear weapon.Looking at the clip, it was clearly more of a joke rather than a prediction. But jokes can be provocative, dangerous and offensive, and they reveal a lot about what people think. Daniel Finkelstein, the Times columnist and Conservative party peer, has described this as an “outrageous racist comment”.Well, I think he said quite a lot of fruity things in the past as well. Look, I don’t recognize 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 also working with our international allies.So I look forward to that meeting [with Vance] if that is the result [ie if Trump wins]. It’s up to the American people to decide. Continue reading…