JD Vance said the US and UK have “disagreements” over how to respond to the crisis in Gaza but share a “common” goal to end the war as he met David Lammy for talks on the Middle East and Ukraine.
Appearing alongside the Foreign Secretary on Friday, the vice-president confirmed Washington had “no plans” to recognise Palestine – which Britain has pledged to do unless Israel agrees to a ceasefire.
Mr Vance, who has previously accused the UK of retreating from democratic values, struck a more positive chord as he spoke of his “love” for the country during a visit to Chevening, Mr Lammy’s grace-and-favour retreat in Kent.
He heaped praise on his “good friend” the Foreign Secretary, and said Britain and the US should work together to “bring greater peace” to the world as the two countries “have a lot in common”.
However, he made clear that there were differences of opinion between the two administrations on how to address the war and humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Asked by reporters at the top of a bilateral meeting with Mr Lammy what he thought of the UK’s plans to recognise Palestine, Mr Vance said: “Obviously, the United Kingdom is going to make its decision.
“We have no plans to recognise a Palestinian state. I don’t know what it would mean to really recognise a Palestinian state given the lack of functional government there.”
He said both sides wanted to “solve that problem” of the crisis in Gaza, but “may have some disagreements about how exactly to accomplish that goal, and we’ll talk about that today”.
“There’s a lot of common objectives here. There is some, I think, disagreement about how exactly to accomplish those common objectives, but look, it’s a tough situation,” he said.
“Of course, we’re not going to know exactly how to solve a very complicated problem.”
Despite coming from differing political backgrounds, Mr Vance and Mr Lammy are said to have developed a personal rapport, bonding over their difficult childhoods and Christian faith.
Mr Vance visited Chevening while on holiday in the Cotswolds with his family, who joined him and the Foreign Secretary to go carp fishing at the countryside estate on Friday.
“Unfortunately, the one strain on the special relationship is that all of my kids caught fish, but the Foreign Secretary did not,” the vice-president said.
“It is great to be here… my wife and I love this section, this area of the UK and we were actually here a couple of years ago… so we love this country.
“Just on a personal note, I have to say that I really have become a good friend, and David has become a good friend of mine, and so it’s great to spend some time here with him… you’ve been a very, very gracious host to me and the whole family.”
Asked about the criticism he has previously directed at the UK over issues like freedom of speech, he claimed his concerns related more widely to “the entire collective West”.
In February, Mr Vance claimed that a “backslide away from conscience rights has placed the basic liberties of religious Britons” under threat, and attacked the use of laws to enforce buffer zones around abortion clinics.
More recently, the vice-president has appeared to take aim at Britain’s international standing as well as its home affairs.
A real pleasure to welcome my friend @JDVance and his family to Chevening.
— David Lammy (@DavidLammy) August 8, 2025
Before beginning our bilateral, the Vice President gave me fishing tips, Kentucky style.
The special relationship makes the UK and the US stronger, safer and better off. pic.twitter.com/MvadqvbpMB
As the UK and France led European efforts to secure a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia, he questioned the level of security that could be offered by “some random country that hasn’t fought a war in 30 or 40 years”.
He later denied the comments had related to either the UK or France following a backlash from British politicians and ex-soldiers.
Speaking on Friday, Mr Vance said: “I’ve raised concerns about free speech in the United States of America.
“I think the entire collective West, the transatlantic relationship, our Nato allies, certainly the United States under the Biden administration, got a little too comfortable with censoring rather than engaging with a diverse array of opinions.
“So that’s been my view. Obviously, I’ve raised some criticism and concerns about our friends on this side of the Atlantic, but the thing that I say to the people of England, or anybody else, to David, is many of the things that I worry most about were happening in the United States from 2020 to 2024.
“I just don’t want other countries to follow us down what I think is a very dark path under the Biden administration.”
Mr Lammy said “commonalities and differences” in political debate were part of the “joy of living in a democracy like ours”.
“But, you know, there are areas where there are actually joint concern, we both have a joint concern about outcomes for working people, that is the truth of it,” he said.
“And we have also discussed issues like irregular and illegal migration and how we deal with those issues.
“So there are commonalities and there are differences and that is the joy of living in democracies like ours.”
Earlier on Friday, Sir Keir Starmer said Israel was “wrong” to approve plans to occupy Gaza City and urged the country’s government to reconsider its new offensive to stop “more bloodshed”.
The Prime Minister’s intervention came after his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu met his war cabinet and approved plans for a major escalation in the conflict early on Friday.
Sir Keir has pledged to recognise a Palestinian state by September unless Israel meets a series of conditions towards ending the war in Gaza.
He has also urged Hamas to disarm, release its remaining Israeli hostages, and accept it will have no part in the future governance of Gaza.
