US vice president speaks out as Andy Burnham looks set to enter 10 Downing Street within weeks
JD Vance says the UK has been ‘failed by its leadership for a long time’ (Image: Getty)
Britain is “amazing” but has been “failed by its leadership for a long time”, JD Vance has declared. The US vice president said the churn of prime ministers in recent years indicated “something is very broken about British politics and that people are really crying out for significant structural change”.
Mr Vance admitted his comments could be “provocative” but insisted that they were made “from a perspective of love and admiration”. He said he does not know Sir Keir Starmer‘s likely successor Andy Burnham, but that the US will work with whoever is leader “as successfully as we can”.
Andy Burnham looks set to enter 10 Downing Street within weeks (Image: Getty)
Mr Vance, whose wife Usha studied at Cambridge University, told The Sunday Times: “I have a special affection for Britain.
“If I’m being honest, I think, as much as I care about it for reasons of mutual interest – and American alliances – I also just care about it because Britain feels more culturally familiar to me than any country on Earth, aside from my own.”
He added: “What I see is six prime ministers in the last few years.
“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.
“I hope that Andy Burnham – and if not Andy Burnham, somebody else – is able to deliver it. Because Britain is such a beautiful country, such an amazing place.”
However, he said the country had “been failed by its leadership for a long time”.
Of Sir Keir’s likely successor, whom Donald Trump has branded “extremely liberal”, Mr Vance said: “I don’t know a lot about Andy Burnham.
“Obviously, Britain is one of our closest and most important allies. So whoever is the prime minister, we’re going to work with them and work with them as successfully as we can.”
The vice president has previously sparked controversy by his remarks about the UK.
Last month, Mr Vance said there should be “righteous anger” in response to the murder of student Henry Nowak in Southampton, which he blamed on “the politics of self-hatred and the mass invasion of migrants”.
The US State Department, headed by Marco Rubio, had also linked “two-tier policing” to Mr Nowak’s death, which was rejected by Downing Street.
Weeks earlier, Mr Vance urged anti-immigration protesters in the UK to “keep on going” and called on Britain to follow America in protecting its borders.
Mr Vance said: “To the extent that the president or I, or Secretary Rubio, are going into European institutions and encouraging people to be better, it comes from a perspective of love and admiration.
“Even though sometimes what we say is provocative.”
