Chris Mason: How Lammy and Vance's unlikely friendship is being utilised

For weeks now, there has been a barrage of barbs from Donald Trump aimed at the prime minister and Sir Keir Starmer has notched up his public criticisms of the US president.

But the fascinating relationship between the two men's deputies continues to flourish, it seems.

David Lammy, who spends a fair amount of his time overseeing prisons in England and Wales as justice secretary, is also the deputy prime minister and has flown to Washington to meet America's Vice-President, JD Vance, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in separate meetings at the White House.

Each meeting lasted around 45 minutes.

The talks focused on the wars in the Middle East and in Ukraine.

You might reasonably expect these meetings to involve the foreign secretary, the job Lammy used to do before the role was given to Yvette Cooper.

But no, it is Lammy's relationship with the vice-president the government has sought to leverage.

The unlikely friendship between the deputy prime minister and the vice-president began when Lammy was an opposition MP and Vance had just been elected to the US Senate.

Last summer the vice-president and his family stayed with Lammy at his grace and favour home, Chevening, in Kent, during a summer holiday visit to the UK.

Posting on X, Lammy wrote that it was "great to catch up with my friend JD Vance today in DC following his talks in Pakistan."

Above a picture of the two men shaking hands, he added: "It is vital that the ceasefire continues and we get shipping flowing freely again through the Straits of Hormuz. We continue to work together towards a just and lasting peace in Ukraine."

The meetings come on the same day that the prime minister repeated his criticism of Trump's language last week, when he threatened Iran by claiming that a "whole civilisation will die tonight".

Sir Keir told MPs: "In relation to the language about destroying a civilisation, could I really be clear with this House – that was wrong.

"A threat to Iranian civilians in that way is wrong. These are civilians, let's remember, who've suffered immeasurable harm by the regime in Iran for many, many, long years, and that's why they're words and phrases that I would never use on behalf of this government, which is guided by our principles and our values throughout all this."

Last week, Sir Keir referred negatively to Trump and the Russian President, Vladimir Putin, in the same sentence, when he said he was "fed up with the fact that families across the country see their bills go up and down... because of the actions of Putin or Trump".

The prime minister has also said the UK will not be getting involved in America's blockade of Iranian ports.

Trump has been persistently critical in public of the prime minister, including saying he is "not Winston Churchill".