Trump’s vice president running mate JD Vance says UK an ‘Islamist country’ in bizarre nuclear weapons comment

Donald Trump’s choice for vice president described the UK as an “Islamist country” with nuclear weapons during a speech at a right-wing conference last week.

JD Vance, the Ohio senator, was announced as Mr Trump’s running mate on Monday after the former president was shot in the ear during a rally in Pennsylvania at the weekend.

Recounting a conversation he was having with a friend, the 39-year-old said he had been wondering which “truly Islamist country” would be the first to gain access to nuclear weapons.

“I was talking about, you know, what is the first truly Islamist country that will get a nuclear weapon?” he said. “Maybe it is Iran, maybe Pakistan already kind of counts, and then we finally decided that it’s actually the UK – since Labour just took over.”

Mr Vance’s bizarre comments came as he was speaking at the National Conservatism Conference, often referred to as NatCon, in Washington DC, and were met with a chorus of laughter from the crowd.

In the speech, Mr Vance talked about how “American leaders should look out for Americans… and for the Brits, UK leaders should look out for citizens of the UK or subjects or whatever you guys call yourselves”.

He added “by the way, I have to beat up on the UK for just one additional thing”, before saying the election of a Labour government has left Britain as the “first truly Islamist country that will gain a nuclear weapon”. “To our Tory friends, I have to say, you guys have got to get a handle on this,” he said.

Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner said she “doesn’t recognise” the characterisation of the UK under a Labour government as “Islamist”.

Ms Rayner told ITV’s Good Morning Britain: “I think he said quite a lot of fruity things in the past as well.

“Look, I don’t