JD Vance is less liked among the UK public than Donald Trump, Sir Keir Starmer or any other major UK politician, a new poll shared with Sky News has found.
Just 14% of the British public have a favourable view of the US vice president, compared with 21% for Mr Trump and 29% for the prime minister and Reform UK leader Nigel Farage.
Ipos questioned 1,132 adults aged 18 and across Great Britain online between the 14 and 17 March – just weeks after the heated exchange between Mr Vance, Mr Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the White House over military assistance to Ukraine.
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The poll was carried out before a conversation on the messaging app Signal – between US officials, including the vice president – was accidentally leaked to an American journalist, who was added to the encrypted chat in error.
In the conversation, Mr Vance and other officials – including National Security Adviser Michael Waltz, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth – discussed plans to conduct airstrikes on Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis, which took place on 15 March.
During the discussion, Mr Vance questioned the rationale behind the military action, arguing that attacking the Houthis would largely serve European interests, with the continent benefiting from US protection of shipping lanes in the Red Sea that are a frequent target for attacks
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In a message addressed to Mr Hegseth, Mr Vance said: “If you think we should do it let’s go. I just hate bailing Europe out again.”
Mr Hegseth, who had made the case for military action against the Houthis, replied: “I fully share your loathing of European free-loading. PATHETIC.”
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Keiran Pedley, Ipsos director of politics, told Sky News: “It is clear from these numbers that Vance is unpopular with the British public.
“A majority hold an unfavourable view of the vice president, including clear majorities of Conservative, Labour and Lib Dem voters. Reform UK supporters are more split, with slightly more holding an unfavourable view than a favourable one.”
The leak of the messages to Jeffrey Goldberg, The Atlantic’s editor in chief, has raised concerns about US national security and the Trump’s administration’s attitude towards Europe as it seeks to reach a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine to end the war.
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President Trump has dismissed the significance of the accidental leaking of US military intelligence to Mr Goldberg, telling Garrett Haake, a reporter from Sky News’ US partner network NBC, that the journalist was “a sleazeball” and that his presence on the Signal chain had “no impact at all”.
Asked how he came to be added to the chat, Mr Trump said it was one of Mr Waltz’s staffers who “had his number on there”.
Asked if he still had confidence in Waltz, Trump said he did: “Michael Waltz has learned a lesson, and he’s a good man.”
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The US president also expressed confidence in his team and supported comments by his defence secretary that the story was a non-issue, arguing it was “the only glitch in two months, and it turned out not to be a serious one”.
Downing Street has also insisted it is confident any UK intelligence shared with the US was being handled appropriately.
The prime minister’s official spokesman said: “The US is our closest ally when it comes to matters of defence, we have a long-standing relationship on intelligence and defence cooperation.
“We will continue to build on the very strong relationship we already have with the US on defence and security matters.”
