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.
