Labour hits back at Donald Trump VP pick's 'truly Islamist' claims about Britain
The Labour Party has been outspoken against JD Vance - Donald Trump's running mate who called the UK a "truly Islamist" state.
Labour has slammed Donald Trump's recently-announced running mate JD Vance after the Republican said the UK would be the first "truly Islamist" country with nuclear weapons under Keir Starmer.
The Ohio senator and possible future US vice president made the controversial comment during a speech at the National Convservatism conference in Washington DC last week.
He told the audience that he and a friend had been discussing which countries could become "the first truly Islamist country that will get a nuclear weapon" and landed on the UK "since Labour just took over".
He said: "We were like, maybe it's Iran, maybe Pakistan kind of counts, and then we sort of decided maybe it's actually the UK since Labour just took over. But to my Tory friends, I have to say, you guys have got to get a handle on this."
Defence Secretary John Healey hit back at "controversial" Vance for presenting a "caricature" of the country but refused to give a definitive answer on whether he found the comment offensive.
He told Sky News: "I don't think anyone here in Britain would recognise that caricature here. Politics is controversial. President Trump is controversial.
"It should be no surprise he's picked somebody who's also controversial as a running mate. But, in the end, who the American people elect to be their president and vice president is for them."
Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner also spoke out against Vance's "fruity" comment, adding that she did not "recognise that characterisation" of the country.
The Tories also hit back at Trump's running mate, with Andrew Bowie, the shadow veterans minister, "absolutely" disagreeing with his comment.
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."
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Vance was hand-picked by Trump to be his VP despite being outspoken against the former president in the past, going so far as to compare him to Hitler.
Vance could prove tricky for Labour if the Republicans win the election in November, as he has been vocal about ending the US's support for Ukraine in the ongoing war against Russia.
During the same speech at the National Conservatism convention, he criticised sending "hundreds of billions of dollars of weaponry with no obvious end in sight and no obvious conclusion or even objective that we are close to getting accomplished".
