Vice President JD Vance exchanged words with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer during a meeting in the Oval Office on Thursday.
The press asked Vance to reiterate statements made in Munich on Britain’s weakening commitment to free speech; he stood by his comments.
“I said what I said, which is that we do have, of course, a special relationship with our friends in the UK and also with some of our European allies. But we also know that there have been infringements on free speech that actually affect not just the British; of course, what the British do in their own country is up to them,” Vance added, “but also affect American technology companies and, by extension, American citizens. So that is something that we’ll talk about today at lunch.”
Starmer defended his country’s commitment to free speech.
“We’ve had free speech for a very, very long time in in the United Kingdom, and it will last for a very, very long time,” the Labour Party politician said.
“Certainly, we wouldn’t want to reach across [and US citizens, and we don’t, and that’s absolutely right,” he told Vance. “But in relation to free speech in the UK, I’m really proud of that — our history there.”
Watch the clip below:
NEW: JD Vance calls out UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer to his face for infringing on free speech, says he will talk to him about it at lunch.
“I said what I said…”
“There have been infringements on free speech that actually impact not just the British… but also impact… pic.twitter.com/IF88SA1sSX
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) February 27, 2025
Watch Vance’s comments from Munich earlier this month below:
The full JD Vance speech in Munich — we elected President Trump to realize an America First agenda, and that means undoing US Imperialism and how it enabled authoritarianism and manipulation worldwide, especially in Europe.
pic.twitter.com/mtpMKnNzMU— ib (@Indian_Bronson) February 14, 2025
Thank you for visiting