For weeks now, there was a barrage of barbs from Donald Trump aimed on the prime minister and Sir Keir Starmer has notched up his public criticisms of the US president.
But the fascinating relationship between the 2 males’s deputies continues to flourish, it appears.
David Lammy, who spends a good quantity of his time overseeing prisons in England and Wales as justice secretary, is additionally the deputy prime minister and has flown to Washington to fulfill America’s Vice-President, JD Vance, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in separate conferences on the White House.
Each assembly lasted round 45 minutes.
The talks centered on the wars within the Middle East and in Ukraine.
You would possibly moderately count on these conferences to contain the overseas secretary, the job Lammy used to do earlier than the position was given to Yvette Cooper.
But no, it is Lammy’s relationship with the vice-president the federal government has sought to leverage.
The unlikely friendship between the deputy prime minister and the vice-president started when Lammy was an opposition MP and Vance had simply been elected to the US Senate.
Last summer time the vice-president and his household stayed with Lammy at his grace and favour residence, Chevening, in Kent, throughout a summer time vacation go to to the UK.
Posting on X,, external Lammy wrote that it was “great to catch up with my friend JD Vance today in DC following his talks in Pakistan.”
Above an image of the 2 males shaking palms, he added: “it is vital that the ceasefire continues and we get shipping flowing freely again through the Straits of Hormuz. We continue to work together towards a just and lasting peace in Ukraine.”
The conferences come on the identical day that the prime minister repeated his criticism of Trump’s language final week, when he threatened Iran by claiming {that a} “whole civilisation will die tonight”.
Sir Keir informed MPs: “In relation to the language about destroying a civilisation, could I really be clear with this House – that was wrong.
“A menace to Iranian civilians in that means is improper. These are civilians, let’s keep in mind, who’ve suffered immeasurable hurt by the regime in Iran for a lot of, many, lengthy years, and that is why they’re phrases and phrases that I’d by no means use on behalf of this authorities, which is guided by our rules and our values all through all this.”
Last week, Sir Keir referred negatively to Trump and the Russian President, Vladimir Putin. in the same sentence, when he said he was “fed up with the truth that households throughout the nation see their payments go up and down… due to the actions of Putin or Trump”.
The prime minister has also said the UK will not be getting involved in America’s blockade of Iranian ports.
Trump has been persistently critical in public of the prime minister, including saying he is “not Winston Churchill”.
Little has been briefed about the specifics of the conversation between Lammy and Vance, but the policy differences between the two governments are clear, as is the state of the relationship between their bosses.
So, from Downing Street’s perspective, it is fairly useful that the prime minister’s deputy has a good friend within the president’s deputy. Their friendship stays heat, because the one between the leaders appears decidedly chilly.
