Politics
JD Vance Says ‘Something Is Very Broken In British Politics’
JD Vance has declared “something is very broken in British politics” as the UK prepares for its seventh prime minister in just over a decade.
The American vice-president said Britain “can do a lot more than it’s currently doing” to help its voters in a dig at the current prime minister.
Speaking two weeks before Keir Starmer is expected to hand the keys of No.10 over to Andy Burnham, Vance expressed alarm about the high turnover in Downing Street.
He said: “What that says to me is that something is very broken about British politics and that people are really crying out for significant structural change.”
He claimed he did not know much about the former Manchester mayor but added that the UK is “one of our closest and most important allies” and that the US administration would work with any new leader “as successfully as we can.”
Vance continued: “I hope that Andy Burnham – and if not Andy Burnham, somebody else – is able to deliver [change]. Because Britain is such a beautiful country, such an amazing place.”
Speaking on the 250th year of US independence, Vance claimed he is interested in the UK because of “reasons of mutual interest” and expressed hope that “whoever the prime minister is figures out how to get Britain back on track”.
“I also just care about it because Britain feels more culturally familiar to me than any country on Earth, aside from my own,” Vance said.
His words come after Donald Trump was significantly less diplomatic about Burnham.
The US president described him as an “extremely liberal” politician who “probably won’t open up” the North Sea for further oil and gas drilling.
He also called the former Greater Manchester mayor as “the mayor of a town”.
Burnham is yet to say what his approach to the mercurial president would be.
Starmer bent over backwards to forge a strong bond with Trump and even gave him an unprecedented second state visit to the UK.
However the two fell out after the prime minister refused to let the US use UK military bases to launch attacks on Tehran earlier this year.
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