Donald Trump’s running mate, JD Vance, has said that the UK will be the world’s “first truly Islamist country with nuclear weapons” under a Labour government.
Following his selection as vice-president by Mr Trump, the US Senator’s comments, made at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on Monday caused a stir in the British press.
Recounting a conversation he had with a friend, Vance said he had been wondering which “truly Islamic country” would be first to gain access to nuclear weapons.
“What is the first truly Islamist country to get a nuclear weapon? And we were like, maybe it’s Iran, maybe Pakistan already kind of counts,” Mr Vance joked.
“And then we finally decided maybe it’s actually the UK since Labour took over,” the Ohio senator said.
Islam is the second largest religion in the UK after Chrisianity, with results from the 2021 census recording just under four million Muslims in Britain – or six per cent of the total UK population. In London, the Muslim population has reached 15 per cent, per the last census.
Britain’s Deputy Prime Minister, Angela Rayer, told Good Morning Britain on Tuesday that she did not “recognise that characterisation” of the UK, telling the ITV programme:
“I think he’s said quite a lot of fruity things in the past as well.
“Look, I don’t recognise 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, if that is the result and it’s up to the American people to decide,” the Deputy Labour leader said.
She added: “I think political leaders across the world all have different opinions but we govern in the interests of our countries. And the US is a key ally of ours and if the American people decide who their president and vice president is, we will work with them, of course we will.
“And I’m sure they’ll have opinions on what we do and suggest, and we’ll work together constructively and I look forward to those meetings and being able to do that. That’s grown-up politics. That’s what we do.”
Trump selected the firebrand Senator as his pick for Vice President on Monday night, saying that he was the person “best suited” to the job after lengthy consideration and thought.
The Republican nominee said the 39-year-old would “continue to fight for our Constitution, stand with our troops, and will do everything he can to help me make America great again”.
It came as Trump’s campaign received two major boosts, with the dismissal of one of his major criminal trials by a judge and polls showing him gaining rapidly in swing states in the wake of Saturday’s assassination attempt.
Vance’s selection has been welcomed by Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, who wrote on X: “J.D. Vance a great pick as Vice President. He is a top man.”
Vance previously gained traction online when he waded into the international debate on Irish hate speech legislation. The US Senator, criticising the proposed law, wrote on social media in November:
“Ireland senator wants to criminalize speech that causes too much “discomfort” for people. If this were happening in Russia or China or many other nations we would call it totalitarian and threaten economic sanctions,” Vance said, relating to comments made by Green Party Senator Pauline O’Reilly – who had said that “we are restricting freedom for the common good.”
“Hilarious to me that this person apparently never considered that speaking honestly about the public affairs of a nation might serve the common good, even if it offends some,” the Republican Senator added.