Key events
James Murray, a Treasury minister, has also been giving interviews on behalf of the government this morning. When he was asked about JD Vance’s line about Britain becoming an Islamist country under Labour (see 8.42am) in an interview with Sky News, he repeatedly claimed he did not know what Vance meant by the comment (although he did also at one point say “we”, meaning the government presumably, disagreed with it).
Murray said:
I don’t really understand those comments …
I genuinely heard that comment, and I don’t know what [Vance] was driving at in that comment, to be honest. I mean, in Britain, we’re very proud of our diversity.
I’m very proud that we have a new government, I’m very proud that our Labour government is committed to national security and economic growth. I’m very clear where we are. I don’t really know how that comment fits in.
In an interview with Times Radio, Murray also claimed he did not know what Vance meant by the “Islamist” comment.
As a line to take, this was a cop-out. Everyone else seems to know what the comment meant.
Tory shadow minister says it was ‘offensive’ for JD Vance to say Britain could be become ‘Islamist’ country under Labour
Conservatives seem more willing this morning to criticise what JD Vance said about the UK (see 8.42am) than Labour politicians. Although the Tories are more aligned with US Republicans than Labour, this is not particularly surprising because Labour has to worry about diplomatic relations with a possible Trump administration while that is not something a Conservative leader is probably every going to have to worry about.
Angela Rayner found a polite way of saying she disagreed with Vance’s comment about the UK becoming an “Islamist” country. But Andrew Bowie, the new shadow veterans minister, has also been on an interview round this morning and he told Times Radio that the US senator was being offensive.
Asked if Labour was creating an “Islamist” country, Bowie said:
No, absolutely not. The Labour party, I disagree with the Labour party fundamentally on many issues, but I do not agree with that view. I think it’s actually quite offensive, frankly, to my colleagues in the Labour party.
They have just won the election. It’s now up to us to form an opposition. But we need to relearn how to disagree agreeably and have those full, frank disagreements out in public – but be able to do so with civility.
Angela Rayner suggests Trump’s running mate JD Vance wrong to say Britain could become Islamist country under Labour
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 has 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.
Lammy reportedly has good relations with JD Vance, Trump’s VP pick.
But here is what Vance said about Labour 2 weeks ago:
“What is the 1st truly Islamist country that will get a nuclear weapon?
Maybe it’s actually the UK, since Labour just took over” 👀pic.twitter.com/1nGATPnnxE
— Antonello Guerrera (@antoguerrera) July 16, 2024
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”.
We have not heard Lammy’s response, but Angela Rayner, the deputy prime minister, has been giving interviews this morning and on ITV’s Good Morning Britain she said that Vance was wrong about the UK. Asked how she felt about his description of the Labour in this comment, she replied:
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.
Rayner also said that US was a key ally for the UK, that it was for the American people to decide who they wanted as president and vice president, and that whoever they elected, “we will work with them, of course we will”.
I will post more from her interviews shortly.
Here is the agenda for the day.
Morning: Keir Starmer chairs cabinet.
11.30am: The Commons sits so that MPs who have not yet taken the oath can do so.
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