The “special relationship” between the US and the UK got awkward Thursday, when Vice President JD Vance confronted British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in the Oval Office over the longtime American ally’s weakening of freedom of speech.
Earlier this month, at the Munich Security Conference, Vance had riled European opinion by decrying what he called “the threat from within, the retreat of Europe from some of its most fundamental values—values shared with the United States of America.”
Vance stood by his comments Thursday when pressed by a reporter, saying: “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,” the 40-year-old added, “but also affect American technology companies and, by extension, American citizens. So that is something that we’ll talk about today at lunch.”
Seated just a few feet away from Vance, Starmer chimed in to defend his country’s speech codes.
“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,” said the 62-year-old Labour Party politician.
“Certainly, we wouldn’t want to reach across [and US citizens, and we don’t, and that’s absolutely right,” he told Vance. “But in relation to free speech in the UK, I’m really proud of that — our history there.”
In Munich, Vance had rattled off examples of criminal convictions in Europe for what would be protected First Amendment activity in America, including the case of 51-year-old British Army veteran and physiotherapist Adam Smith-Connor, who was ordered to pay £9,000 ($11,346) for violating a buffer zone while praying outside of an abortion clinic.
“I wish I could say that this was a fluke—a one-off, crazy example of a badly written law being enacted against a single person,” Vance lamented at the time. “In Britain, and across Europe, free speech, I fear, is in retreat.”
Prior to Starmer’s visit to the White House, Vance had indicated that he intended to discuss his concerns about free speech with the British PM, who took office in July 2024.
Starmer also briefly tangled with Trump during the Oval Office meeting after the president groused that European countries have plans to “get their money back” from their aid to Ukraine.
“We’re not getting all of ours,” the PM said. “I mean, quite a bit of ours was gifted. There were some loans, but mainly, it was gifted, actually.”
Starmer is the second major European leader to visit the White House this week, after Trump met with French President Emmanuel Macron Monday.
