U.S. Vice President JD Vance said Britain had been "failed by its leadership for a long time," adding that he hoped the country's next prime minister could deliver the structural change voters were seeking after years of political turmoil.
In an interview with the Sunday Times newspaper, Vance said frequent changes of government pointed to deeper problems in British politics. Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced last month he would step down after two years in office, paving the way for Britain's seventh prime minister in a decade.
Lawmaker Andy Burnham is widely expected to succeed Starmer after emerging as the sole candidate to replace the outgoing leader.
"What I see is six prime ministers in the last few years," Vance told the newspaper. "What that says to me is that something is very broken about British politics and that people are really crying out for significant structural change."
"I hope that Andy Burnham — and if not Andy Burnham, somebody else — is able to deliver it," the vice president said, adding that "whoever the prime minister is figures out how to get Britain back on track."
U.S.-UK SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP
Vance, whose wife Usha studied at the University of Cambridge and who has frequently spoken of his affection for Britain, described the country as an "amazing place" with the "most amazing people in the world" outside the United States.
His comments come after a sometimes uneasy but largely functional relationship between Starmer and U.S. President Donald Trump.
The two leaders repeatedly stressed the importance of the U.S.-UK "special relationship" despite disagreements over issues including Iran, Gaza and Ukraine, while also securing trade and investment agreements between the two allies.
Reacting to Starmer's resignation last month, Trump described him as a "lovely man" and a "sort of friend of mine," but said that he had failed on immigration and energy policy.
Trump had added: "I wish him well."
Trump has described Burnham as "extremely liberal" and suggested Britain's next likely prime minister would be unlikely to support further North Sea oil and gas development — something the U.S. president had been asking Starmer to do.
In his interview with the Sunday Times, Vance said he did not know much about Burnham, but added that Britain remained one of Washington's closest allies.
"Whoever is the prime minister, we're going to work with them and work with them as successfully as we can," he said.
© Thomson Reuters 2026.
10 Comments
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TaiwanIsNotChina
Has he seen the new guy? The UK is not joining Team Putin with Trump.
Underworld
Yawn. Nobody cares what JD Vance thinks. I don't listen to sellouts.
bass4funk
It's ok, he's just giving his opinion, nothing more, Europeans can shrug it off, we do the exact same thing, liberal leaders are always saying things about us and our President, we don't care as well, it goes both ways, it's just a speech nothing more.
wallace
Who cares what Vance thinks.
TaiwanIsNotChina
No you don't. MAGAs are constantly whining about Europe.
itsonlyrocknroll
Britain is in dire need for comprehensive political economic change.
Britain is in the grip, a bear trap of a prolonged period of social, economic, cultural decline
Burnhams proposals are political economic fairy stories.
The second prime ministerial headquarters in Manchester shifting political power away from London, councils to have greater authority to enforce public control to local housing, transport, water, and energy sectors, a council housebuilding programme, largest seen in the UK since the post-war era.
All weasel words, actions that lack any financially coherent meaning, I suggest are blatantly untrue
Burnham promises to stick to the previous manifesto's strict borrowing limits and rules against raising VAT, income tax, or national insurance, Rachel Reeves strict fiscal rules
Burnham will immediately have to find billions in departmental savings just to cover pre-existing defence spending commitments. Look there is no spending room for new programs.
So Burnham is likely to Tax/Borrow/Spend
Burnham has staged a back-room coup, all on the back of a Makerfield local election of 24,927 votes.
Deep seated anger directed at this/his Labour government will reach a boiling point, frustration over another round of huge tax rises, yet public services continue to decay, economic stagnation, the cost of illegal immigration, a growing deep-seated anger of political disenfranchisement.
Demands for a General Election could well grow into riots and civil unrest
wallace
We don't care what Vance, Trump, or Musk has to say about the UK. The US is no longer the ally it was.
bass4funk
Now, hopefully, you guys understand how we feel when Europeans talk about our leaders or us, so we understand your feeling, finally!
TaiwanIsNotChina
Name a European leader that criticized the US prior to the Trump.
itsonlyrocknroll
The Uk government, whoever leads that government, can work with Vice President JD Vance listen to his concerns or not.
If not, then be prepared to face the consequences,
Vice President JD Vance has demanded UK roll back its hate speech laws as well as online safety rules or the trade deal with the United States could be at risk.
To hammer the point home, President Trump has threatened a 100% tariff on UK exports if the UK proceeds with its Digital Services Tax or Digital Competition Bill that targets American tech giants.
Trump views all levies as discriminatory, threatening to bypass existing trade deals to implement immediate duties irrespective of previous trade agreements.
Such an action would be extremely harmful for the UK economy