Donald Trump's running mate Vice-President J.D. Vance has sparked outrage after remarking that the UK under the Labour government is an "Islamist country".
Speaking at a conference for UK Conservatives last week, Vance said he was discussing with a friend which country would be the first "truly Islamist country with nuclear weapons", and answered that, "Maybe it's Iran, maybe Pakistan kind of counts, and then we sort of decided maybe it's actually the UK since Labour just took over".
He went on to add, "To our Tory friends, I have to say, you guys have got to get a handle on this."
This comes after Foreign Secretary David Lammy tried to mend ties with Vance in May when he was in the opposition. Vance had even said Lammy was his "English friend".
Britain's Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner played down the controversy, saying the Ohio senator has made such "fruity" remarks in the past as well.
Tory Co-Chair Sayeeda Warsi wrote in The Independent that the UK-US ties have become nothing more than "a racist joke" and warned of "dangerous times ahead".
Shadow Veterans Minister Andrew Bowie told Times Radio that he "absolutely" disagreed with Vance's claim, adding that it's "actually quite offensive, frankly, to my colleagues in the Labour party." Shadow minister posts are positions held by the Opposition party members in the UK Parliament.
British Treasury Minister James Murray told Sky News that the British are proud of their diversity, adding that "I don't know what he (Vance) was driving at in that comment, to be honest."
Norwich South Labour MP Clive Lewis told The Independent that the comments show that "we now need to prepare for the worst-case scenario of a Trump-Vance presidency."
Canterbury Labour MP Rosie Duffield called Vance's remarks as "pretty ignorant, racist and Islamophobic".
