JD Vance chooses Cotswolds for family summer holiday

Telegraph

2 days ago

JD Vance and his family have chosen to spend their summer holiday in the UK, according to sources familiar with their itinerary.
They are expected to visit in August, not long after Donald Trump completes a five-day stay in Scotland, illustrating what a US official said were the deep bonds between Sir Keir Starmer's Government and the Trump administration.
Mr Vance has at times angered the British public, making apparently dismissive comments about America's allies and fierce attacks on what he claims are restrictions on free speech in the UK.
The vice-president, his wife Usha and their three young children are expected to join millions of American tourists in crossing the Atlantic to see the sights of London in mid-August.
They are then expected to rent a cottage in the Cotswolds before leaving to spend time in Scotland. Mrs Vance has taken the lead in finding a cottage in the Cotswolds where they can unwind with Ewan, eight, five-year-old Vivek, and Mirabel, three.
The children have been a feature of Mr Vance's public life since he became vice-president, skipping ahead of their parents and boarding Air Force Two in their pyjamas ready for long-haul flights to Europe and beyond.
Three sources described the Vance family plans to The Telegraph, although one stressed that the itinerary had not been finalised.
It is understood the vice-president had also been keen to visit David Lammy, the Foreign Secretary, at Chevening, his grace-and-favour estate in Kent, but their calendars did not align.
Mr Lammy and his wife visited the Vances at their official Washington residence earlier this year, and people who know both men say they have bonded over their humble backgrounds and shared faith.
The visits by the president and his potential successor in 2028 are seen as something of a summer coup by British officials, who are delighted at how they have been able to woo an administration that uses the slogan 'America First'.
'The ties run deep,' said a Whitehall source. 'Whatever any policy differences, the history, heritage and appeal of the United Kingdom are a huge draw to the current administration … unlike with their predecessors.'
Mr Trump has spoken of his deep admiration for Elizabeth II and how he watched the late Queen's coronation at his royalist mother's side in 1953.
The US president is due to fly to Scotland on Friday, where he will check up on his business interests and meet the Prime Minister in Aberdeen. He will visit his Trump Turnberry golf club in Ayrshire on the west coast before opening the new second course on his Menie Estate in Aberdeenshire, on the north-east coast.
Aides, who shy away from using the term 'vacation' for a president who they say never stops working, are billing the trip as a low-key affair. He will return to the UK in September for a state visit.
British officials have made no secret of their use of the UK's history and heritage in seeking concessions from the Trump administration.
When Sir Keir met the president in the Oval Office in February, he came with a letter from the King inviting Mr Trump for an unprecedented second state visit.
Barely seven weeks later, the UK became the first nation to do a trade deal with Washington, which lifted planned swingeing tariffs.