US Vice President JD Vance is expected to stay at Foreign Secretary David Lammy's grace-and-favour country house, Chevening, during a family holiday in Britain this summer, according to reports. The visit, beginning this Friday, will see the Vance family lodge at the Grade I-listed mansion in Kent before spending the majority of their trip in the Cotswolds.
The pair have reportedly developed a close personal friendship, bonding over their challenging upbringings and shared Christian faith. Mr Lammy attended mass at the vice president's Washington residence earlier this year, and the upcoming stay at Chevening is seen as a reciprocal gesture. A source told the Telegraph that “Lammy has visited Vance’s family and the relationship looks like it will continue to grow on a personal as well as a professional basis.”
It is understood that a bilateral meeting between the two will take place before they are joined by their families at the Kent mansion. The Vance family is also expected to visit Hampton Court Palace during their stay. The trip comes weeks after Donald Trump’s private visit to Scotland, where he met EU chief Ursula von der Leyen and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer. Mr Trump will return to the UK for a full state visit in September.
The burgeoning relationship between Mr Lammy and Mr Vance marks a shift for the Foreign Secretary, who previously described President Trump as a “racist and KKK/neo-Nazi sympathiser” while Labour was in opposition. Since taking office, Mr Lammy has brushed off those comments as “old news”. A Foreign Office spokesman stated that “ministerial engagements will be announced in the usual way.”
