‘Special relationship’ shaky, warns Churchill’s grandson

Winston Churchill’s grandson has accused Donald Trump’s team of despising Europe after a furious row which saw vicepresident JD Vance criticised for disrespecting Britain’s war dead.

- KATE DEVLIN

Conservative peer Sir Nicholas Soames told the House of Lords that the US administration "despise Europe really". He also predicted that in future the “special relationship” between the UK and the US would not be “what it was”.

“I don’t think they want it to be,” Lord Soames told the international relations and defence committee yesterday.

Donald Trump has paid tribute to Churchill, reinstating the bust of the former prime minister in the Oval Office as one of his first acts in power upon his return to the presidential office in January.

Lord Soames’s comments come after Mr Vance faced widespread condemnation for appearing to describe the UK as “some random country that hasn’t fought a war in 30 or 40 years”.

He was accused of erasing the experiences of Britons who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, in what was his latest tirade against the USA’s European allies.