Rayner calls Vance to fix relations after branding Trump a ‘buffoon’

The Deputy Prime Minister says the pair discussed the special relationship between the countries and working together in the future

Angela Rayner spoke to JD Vance, the US vice president-elect, on Thursday in an effort to improve relations after she previously called Donald Trump a “buffoon”.
The Deputy Prime Minister said she discussed the “special relationship between our great countries” with Mr Vance in a telephone call the day after Mr Trump’s victory.
In a statement on X, she said that it was “good to speak” to Mr Vance and that the pair discussed “working together” in the future.
Four years ago, Ms Rayner described president-elect Trump as a “buffoon” who had “no place in the White House”.
She said that Mr Trump was an “embarrassment” during the pandemic and accused him of “killing thousands of Americans by giving them duff advice”.
The Deputy Prime Minister also called Mr Trump a “phoney president” and on Jan 6 2021, when his supporters stormed the Capitol, she said the Republicans had “blood on their hands”.
She is among several senior government figures, including David Lammy, the Foreign Secretary, and Sir Keir Starmer, who have been highly critical of Mr Trump.
Sir Keir’s administration now faces a battle to improve their relationship with Mr Trump’s team. The Prime Minister spoke to Mr Trump on Wednesday but French president Emmanuel Macron, the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman all had calls before him.
On Thursday, Sir Keir denied being too Left-wing for Mr Trump and insisted that the pair had a “very positive” and “constructive” phone call on Wednesday night.
Responding to reports that the president-elect had repeatedly described the Prime Minister as “very Left-wing”, he said: “I had a very good meeting with president-elect Trump a few weeks ago, when we had dinner together in New York, and that was very positive, very constructive.”
He told broadcasters in Budapest on Thursday that the special relationship “was forged in very difficult circumstances historically”, adding: “In our joint view, it’s as important today as it’s ever been.”
It came as Joe Biden said he would oversee a “peaceful and orderly transition” to Mr Trump and called on the country to “bring down the temperature” of political debate.
He said he would make “every day count” for the remainder of his presidency, hinting that he is planning a raft of executive orders before his former rival takes office.
He has already moved to restrict oil drilling at sites Mr Trump plans to exploit. Democrats are playing a blame game over Ms Harris’s defeat, with some accusing Mr Biden of being “arrogant” for refusing to step back from the election until July.
In addition to Ms Rayner and Mr Lammy, Jonathan Reynolds, the Business Secretary who will head up any free trade negotiations between the UK and the US, has criticised Mr Trump.
In 2017 he said that the president-elect “shamefully boasted about sexually assaulting women” and criticised Mr Trump’s “bigotry towards Muslims”.
Mr Vance was a vocal critic of Mr Trump, once comparing him to Hitler, but went on to become a key supporter and was picked to be his running mate.
Labour figures have tried to suggest that Mr Vance’s previous comments show Labour’s past criticisms of the president-elect will not harm the special relationship between the US and the UK.