JD Vance Touts 'Special Relationship' Between U.S. And UK During Visit With FM David Lammy

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During a meeting with UK PM David Lammy, Vice President JD Vance touted the special relationship between the U.S. and the UK.

Transcript

00:00Kent. Thank you. It's good to be here. Well, thank you so much for having me, Mr. Foreign

00:06Secretary. It's good to see you all and good to see your team here. As you said, this is a very

00:10special relationship between our two countries, and I think me being here is just another part

00:14of that. So we've already, in the brief time that we've been here, my kids have fallen asleep on

00:20your floor. We've gone fishing in the lake outside, and unfortunately, the one strain on the special

00:26relationship is that all of my kids caught a fish, but the Foreign Secretary did not. I'm

00:30sorry. I'm sorry. It is great to be here in Kent again. My wife and I love this section,

00:36this area of the UK. We actually were here a couple of years ago. We went to Dover and to

00:41the Cathedral of Canterbury, so we love this country. We certainly love this part of the

00:44country, and so it's great to be here. As David said, we have a lot to discuss. There's a lot

00:50going on in the world, of course, the situation in the Middle East, the situation with Ukraine

00:54in Russia. There's a lot of news there and a lot of things to update each other on. I believe

00:58that we're going to talk about our economic partnerships, both in technology, but also

01:02the broader shared economic relationship that we have, and we're so thrilled about that.

01:07But just on a personal note, I have to say that I really have become a good friend, and David

01:12has become a good friend of mine, and so it's great to spend some time here with him and his

01:15family. On the trip over here, my three-year-old daughter in particular kept on asking if she was

01:20going to get to hang out with Maya. The answer, happily, was yes, and you've been a very, very

01:25gracious host to me and the whole family, so we're very grateful to that. And to the people

01:29of England, I really love this country, and in particular, having never been to this beautiful

01:35house before and seen the surrounding area, I just say that the people who built it, the

01:41people who sustained it, I think really love the human spirit, and being here lifts up the

01:46human spirit. And so I feel, from one vice president to the people of England, thank you

01:51for having such a beautiful place for foreigners like me to come and talk about the issues of

01:55the day, because we really appreciate it, and we're really thrilled to be here. So to David

01:59and your team, thank you so very much.

02:01Absolutely.

02:02Did you catch a fish, sir?

02:04I caught a few, actually. Yeah, I don't want to brag, but we did okay.

02:08Can you speak to how you became such good friends?

02:10Well, you know, David, I guess when you were in opposition, right, and I had just gotten

02:15elected to the United States Senate, obviously we come from sort of different political spectrums,

02:19but he was kind enough to make time on a visit to D.C. We got to know each other a little

02:24bit then and just kept on seeing each other, and our families enjoy each other's company

02:28very much, which always helps, but we care about this relationship, and we care about the

02:32fact that though we're separated by an ocean, and I guess as Churchill said by a common language,

02:38that we have a lot in common, and there's a lot to do and a lot to work on together.

02:44David once said to me, this was probably a couple of years ago, that there's this feeling

02:49that the world is in a state of incredible tension, and I certainly felt that a couple

02:55of years ago. I think the President of the United States over the last six, seven months

02:58has done a lot to lower that tension, but there's a lot that the United Kingdom and the

03:02United States can do, I think, to bring greater peace and greater stability to the world,

03:06and so we share that conviction, and that's made it easy for us to spend time together

03:10and work on the issues of the day.

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