Things got troubling when Vice President JD Vance spoke about his previous comments on the UK’s free speech environment, just a foot away from British Prime Minister Kiel Starmer at an elliptical office meeting.
Vance doubled his comments at a security conference in Munich earlier this month. He said he feared that freedom of speech would be a “retreat” in Europe.
“For many of us on the other side of the Atlantic, it looks like an old, entrenched interest hidden behind ugly Soviet-era words like misinformation and disinformation. They may simply not like someone with a different opinion to express another opinion, or God voted in a different way or worse.
UK’s priorities meet Trump in the White House amid the division between us and Europe over the Ukrainian peace deal
President Donald Trump will meet with British Prime Minister Kiel Starmer, and the Centre will meet with Vice President JD Vance and British Foreign Secretary at the White House, along with British Foreign Secretary David Lamy. (Curl coat/pool via AP)
Vance confronted his comments on Thursday when priorities met with President Donald Trump and White House administration officials.
“I said what I said. Of course, I have a special relationship with friends in the UK and allies in Europe,” he said.
“But we also know that there have been violations of free speech that actually affect not only the British, but also the English. Of course, it’s up to them to what the British do in their own country,” Vance added. “But (but that also affects) American tech companies and even American citizens. So that’s what we’re talking about at lunch today.”
Vance wrote in his speech to the Munich Security Conference “Soviet Style European Censorship”
Trump shakes hands with Starme at the White House. (Curl coat/pool via AP)
I sat a few feet away next to the Trumps and immediately rang out.
“We have been experiencing freedom of speech in the UK for a very long time, and that will last for a very long time,” said a Labour politician.
“We certainly don’t want to lie down [regulate] American citizens, and we don’t, and that’s absolutely right,” he told Vance.
In Munich, Vance cited the case of a British Army veteran convicted of violating a safe zone around an abortion clinic where he quietly prayed outside.
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He condemned the enforcement of the buffer zone, claiming that the Scottish government had warned people against private prayers in its home.
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