The outspoken vice president even resisted the chance to criticize laws governing freedom of speech and belief in the U.K., of which he has been damning in the past.
He acknowledged he had “raised some criticism, concerns about our friends on this side of the Atlantic” but specified that “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 was a very dark path under the Biden administration,” Vance said, insisting that his concerns about free speech are focused on America.
The two men are expected to discuss the situation in Gaza following the decision by Benjamin Netanyahu to fully occupy the Gaza strip, which has been condemned by world leaders including Keir Starmer.
Vance told reporters the U.S. government had been in “constant negotiations and conversations, even the last 24 hours, about how to get more aid into Gaza, about how to solve that humanitarian problem, and also how to get Hamas to a position where they can’t continue to threaten the citizens and the civilians of Israel.”
He conceded that “there’s a lot of work to do there” and repeated his belief that the U.K. and the U.S. may have “disagreements about how exactly to accomplish those common objectives” after Starmer said he intends to recognize Palestinian statehood if Israel does not change tack.