Keir Starmer vows to 'work with whoever' is in the White House as PM says US-UK 'special relationship' will 'endure' despite row over Donald Trump's running mate saying Labour-run Britain could be first 'truly Islamist' country with a nuclear weapon
Sir Keir Starmer today vowed to 'work with whoever' is in the White House after November's US presidential election.
The Prime Minister insisted the US-UK 'special relationship' would 'endure' under any future administration in Washington DC.
He stressed he had 'committed' to maintaining close transatlantic links in recent talks with both Joe Biden and Donald Trump.
The Labour premier also appeared to brush off concerns about JD Vance, who was this week unveiled as Mr Trump's pick as running mate for vice president.
The self-proclaimed 'hillbilly' is an opponent of military aid for Ukraine.
Mr Vance also stirred up a row by recently claiming Britain might be the first 'truly Islamist' country with nuclear weapons under Labour.
Sir Keir Starmer today vowed to 'work with whoever' is in the White House after November's US presidential election
The PM was filmed on someone's phone as he spoke at a press conference at the end of the European Political Community summit
During a press conference at the end of today's European Political Community summit, Sir Keir was asked about the risk to support for Ukraine should Mr Trump and Mr Vance take over from Mr Biden and Kamala Harris.
The PM replied: 'Those elections will take place, it will be for the American people to decide who they want to elect into office.
'And we will work with whoever is elected into office, as you would expect.'
Sir Keir added that the 'special relationship' was 'forged in the most difficult of circumstances, it has endured a very long time, and we are committed to it'.
'I've expressed my commitment to President Biden and I spoke to President Trump on Sunday evening after the assassination attempt where, again, the special relationship featured in our discussion,' he said.
Asked what a Trump victory would mean for Ukraine, Sir Keir replied: 'I'm not going to pre-empt what may or may not happen later this year in relation to the election in America.'
Sir Keir's comments at the EPC summit at Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire, came after Foreign Secretary David Lammy also refused to condemn Mr Vance.
Mr Lammy, who grew up on a Tottenham council estate, this morning insisted he could find 'common ground' with the Republican politcian.
The Foreign Secretary described Mr Vance, who is known for writing a powerful memoir about growing up in impoverished rural Ohio, as a 'friend' after meeting him in Washington in May.
He told BBC Breakfast: 'Let me just say on JD Vance that I've met him now on several occasions, we share a similar working class background with addiction issues in our family. We've written books on that. We've talked about that.
'And we're both Christians so I think I can find common ground with JD Vance.'
The Labour premier also appeared to brush off concerns about JD Vance, who was this week unveiled as Mr Trump's pick as running mate for vice president
Sir Keir's comments at the EPC summit at Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire, came after Foreign Secretary David Lammy also refused to condemn Mr Vance
Mr Vance hugged his wife Usha after speaking at the third day of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, last night
Mr Lammy said Mr Trump has the 'thickest of skins' when asked about his past comments calling the former president a 'neo-Nazi-sympathising sociopath'
Senior Labour figures are playing down the row over Mr Vance's comments amid concern Sir Keir may have to deal with a resurgent President Trump in six months' time.
Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner this week claimed Mr Vance had said 'quite a lot of fruity things in the past' and that she 'looked forward' to meeting him and Mr Trump if they won the election.
She added that she didn't 'recognise that characterisation' of Britain, as portrayed by Mr Vance.
'I'm very proud of the election success that Labour had recently,' Ms Rayner said.
'We won votes across all different communities, across the country, and we're interested in governing on behalf of Britain and working with international allies.'
Defence Secretary John Healey said: 'Politics is controversial. President Trump is controversial. It should be no surprise he's picked somebody who's also controversial as a running mate.'
The Ohio senator, who was chosen as Trump's running mate on Monday night, has been criticised over comments he made in an address to the National Conservatism conference in Washington DC last week.
Saying he had to 'beat up on the UK', he told the conference he had been discussing with a friend which would be 'the first truly Islamist country that will get a nuclear weapon'.
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.'
Both Labour and Tory figures criticised the comments, with former Conservative minister Andrew Bowie calling them 'offensive'.
In a speech to the Republican National Convention (RNC) last night, Mr Vance shared his story of growing up poor in Kentucky and Ohio, his mother addicted to drugs and his father absent.
He later joined the US Marines, graduated from Yale Law School, and went on to the highest levels of US politics - an embodiment of an American dream he said is now in short supply.
'Never in my wildest imagination could I have believed that I'd be standing here tonight,' he said.
Speaking to a packed arena at the RNC in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Mr Vance cast himself as a fighter for a forgotten working class, making a direct appeal to the 'Rust Belt' voters who helped drive Mr Trump's surprise 2016 victory.
'In small towns like mine in Ohio, or next door in Pennsylvania, or in Michigan, in states all across our country, jobs were sent overseas and children were sent to war,' he said.
'To the people of Middletown, Ohio, and all the forgotten communities in Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Ohio, and every corner of our nation, I promise you this,' he said.
'I will be a vice president who never forgets where he came from.'
The 39-year-old Ohio senator is a relative political unknown, having served in the Senate for less than two years.
He rapidly morphed in recent years from a bitter critic of the former president to an aggressive defender and is now positioned to become the future leader of the party and the torch-bearer of Mr Trump's 'Make America Great Again' political movement.
The first millennial to join the top of a major party ticket, Mr Vance enters the race as questions about the age of the men at the top - 78-year-old Mr Trump and 81-year-old Mr Biden - have been high on the list of voters' concerns.
He also joins Mr Trump after an assassination attempt against the former president - in which Mr Trump came perhaps millimetres from death or serious injury - underscoring the importance of a potential successor.
But Mr Trump's decision to choose Mr Vance was not about picking a running mate or the next vice president, said Indiana House representative Jim Banks, who introduced the senator at a fundraiser earlier on Wednesday.
'Donald Trump picked a man in JD Vance that is the future of the country, the future of the Republican Party, the future of the America First movement,' he said.
Mr Lammy said Trump has the 'thickest of skins' when asked if his past comments calling Mr Trump a 'neo-Nazi-sympathising sociopath' set a good tone for a relationship with a potential incoming president.
'You'll struggle to find anyone who hasn't had things to say about Donald Trump,' Mr Lammy told BBC Breakfast, saying even Mr Vance has used some 'choice language' to describe Mr Trump.
'The truth is, and when I speak to Republicans, and I've spoken to many as you know, including those who might be his defence secretary or secretary of state, Donald Trump has the thickest of skins.
'There is a lot of rhetoric, but look at the action. He was the first to give Javelins to Ukraine after 2015. He talked about withdrawing from Nato, he actually increased troops to Nato.
'So in a grown-up world, in the national interests of this country, of course, if the American people choose Donald Trump as their president we will work as closely with him as we can, and we will seek to influence him where we disagree.'
