Angela Rayner dismisses ‘Islamist’ Labour comment by new Trump running mate – politics live

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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