Labour rejects JD Vance ‘first Islamist country with nuclear weapons’ remarks

Senior Labour figures have rejected comments by Donald Trump’s vice-presidential pick, JD Vance, that the UK could become the first “truly Islamist country that will get a nuclear weapon” under the party.

They were reacting to comments that were made by Vance, a junior senator for the state of Ohio who has been announced as Trump’s running mate, at a conference for US conservatives.

Angela Rayner, the deputy prime minister, told ITV that Vance had said “quite a lot of fruity things in the past” and she looked forward to meeting him and Trump if they won the US election in November.

Related: Trump names JD Vance, once one of his fiercest critics, as 2024 running mate

“I don’t recognise that characterisation. I’m very proud of the election success that Labour had recently,” she said. “We won votes across all different communities, across the whole of the country, and we’re interested in governing on behalf of Britain and also working with our international allies.”

The jibe is likely to be embarrassing for the UK’s foreign secretary, David Lammy, who has attempted to build bridges with Vance in recent months, comparing their impoverished childhoods.

Vance was speaking at the National Conservatism conference last week, where he said: “I have to beat up on the UK – just one additional thing. I was talking with a friend recently and we were talking about, you know, one of the big dangers in the world, of course, is nuclear proliferation, though, of course, the Biden administration doesn’t care about it.

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

The Treasury minister James Murray said: “I don’t know what he was driving at in that comment, to be honest. I mean, in Britain, we’re very proud of our diversity.”

Labour also found an unlikely ally in the form of Andrew Bowie, the shadow veterans minister, who said he “absolutely” disagreed with the claim that Labour would create an “Islamist country”. “I disagree with the Labour party fundamentally on many issues, but I do not agree with that view, quite frankly. I think it’s actually quite offensive, frankly, to my colleagues in the Labour party,” he told Times Radio.

Lammy described Vance as a friend in a short speech he gave at the Hudson Institute in May when he was in opposition.

The two also shared a panel in February at the Munich security conference, where Vance referred to Lammy as “my English friend” and, in the context of Trumpian pressure for European allies to increase their contributions to Nato, said: “England has been one of the few exceptions where it has fielded a very capable military over the last generation.”

During his time as a backbench MP, Lammy had often been highly critical of the former US president. “Trump is not only a woman-hating, neo-Nazi-sympathising sociopath,” he wrote at the time. “He is also a profound threat to the international order that has been the foundation of western progress for so long.”

He has since suggested the US and UK must find ways to work together under a potential return to the presidency for Trump, saying of his past remarks: “You’re going to struggle to find any politician in the western world who hasn’t had things to say in response to Donald Trump.”

Vance was announced as Trump’s choice for vice-president on Monday night, days after the former president narrowly escaped an assassination attempt at a campaign rally. He was previously a harsh critic of Trump and condemned his Islamophobic rhetoric.

“Trump makes people I care about afraid. Immigrants, Muslims, etc. Because of this I find him reprehensible. God wants better of us,” he wrote in October 2016.

But Vance has become one of the most prominent young Conservatives on the New Right who are now big backers of Trump, having gained Trump’s endorsement for his senate run in Ohio. He is a fierce critic of Washington’s support for Ukraine against the Russian invasion and his appointment is likely to be met with apprehension in Brussels.

Vance played an important role in a failed attempt to block a bill for more Ukrainian aid this year in the Senate. He said in a speech at the time that he did not believe the extent of the threat the Russian president posed to Europe.

“For three years, the Europeans have told us that Vladimir Putin is an existential threat to Europe. And for three years, they have failed to respond as if that were actually true,” Vance said. “Donald Trump famously told European nations they have to spend more on their own defence. He was chastised by members of this chamber for having the audacity to suggest that Germany should step up and pay for its own defence.”