Jeremy Clarkson has joined a backlash in the Cotswolds after US vice president JD Vance arrived at a picturesque hamlet in the region for his summer holiday.
Mr Vance and his family are staying at Dean Manor, a Grade II-listed country home in the tiny hamlet of Dean, during a trip where they also stayed with the Foreign Secretary David Lammy in Kent and will later travel to Scotland.
Local residents reportedly expressed their frustrations after Mr Vance’s enormous motorcade, consisting of 18 vehicles, caused a lockdown in the countryside on Monday.
People in the Cotswolds faced road closures and security checkpoints overseen by police with sniffer dogs as Mr Vance made his way to Dean Manor on Monday, according to GloucestershireLive.
It came before a “Vance Not Welcome Party” protest was organised by the groups “Everybody Hates Elon” and the “Stop Trump Coalition” in Charlbury, close to where Mr Vance is staying, today.
The demonstrators held banners mocking the US vice president and calling him a “war criminal”, in an apparent reference to America’s support for Israel.
Several protesters held images of a widely shared meme depicting Mr Vance with a bald head. The meme went viral after a Norwegian tourist claimed he was not allowed into the US after immigration agents saw it on his phone.
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One protester in Charlbury held a banner reading “JD Vance’s Netflix password is ‘password'”, while another held a sign which said: “JD Vance claps when the plane lands.”
Meanwhile, a van displaying the image of a bald Mr Vance was seen driving through Charlbury.
A large sign outside a property in nearby Chipping Norton read: “Gaza starves, Vance not welcome.”
The demonstrations took place as former Top Gear presenter Clarkson shared an image on Instagram which highlighted how his farm is under a no-fly zone over the Cotswolds areas of Chadlington and Spelsbury.
In an apparent reference to filming for the fifth series of his show Clarkson’s Farm, the 65-year-old wrote: “The JD Vance no fly zone. We are the pin. So on the downside, no drone shots today. On the upside, no annoying light aircraft.”
However, he later sarcastically shared a video of a peaceful Cotswolds scene and wrote: “Utter chaos caused by Vance. How will we ever manage?”
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Kaleb Cooper, a farmer who is Clarkson’s co-star on the Amazon Prime show, said some of his “wheat got wet” after he got stuck behind Mr Vance’s convoy.
He wrote: “I could have easily went on my way and got it in the shed without getting in the way.”
Cooper also joked that if Mr Vance simply “drove around in a VW Polo nobody would know who he was”.
Clarkson’s “Diddly Squat Farm” in Chadlington is around three miles from the hamlet of Dean where Mr Vance is staying.
Well known for being popular with members of the British elite – former UK prime minister David Cameron lives in Dean – the Cotswolds is also becoming increasingly popular with wealthy Americans.
Some of them moved to the region after the election of Donald Trump last year. TV presenter Ellen DeGeneres is among those who has relocated to the area.
Not all of Dean’s residents appreciate its growing popularity. Jonathan Mazower, the head of communications for NGO Survival International, who owns one of Dean’s 15 homes, said he had to speak out against Mr Vance’s presence, adding: “It’s a massive intrusion and it’s not just the fact our lives are disrupted but it’s who he is.”
Vance’s UK tour
The US vice president is expected to host shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick during his holiday – but not Tory leader Kemi Badenoch.
Mr Jenrick has been invited to meet Mr Vance before a drinks event on Tuesday, it is understood.
A Conservative spokesman said the party leader’s team had spoken to Mr Vance’s but that “scheduling” had proved difficult.
Both sides have played down the notion of a snub, the Telegraph reported.
It comes as the US vice president will travel to Scotland later this week in a trip that could see up to 1,000 police officers deployed as part of security efforts.
Sky News understands the Vance family are likely to visit Ayrshire but are not thought to be planning to stay at Mr Trump’s Turnberry resort in the area.
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In Kent, Mr Vance said he had a “love” for the UK but joked he had committed a diplomatic faux pas as he began his holiday.
“Unfortunately, the one strain on the special relationship is that all of my kids caught fish, but the foreign secretary did not,” he said.
He also said he doesn’t want the UK to go down a “very dark path” of losing free speech.
Mr Vance described Mr Lammy as a “very, very gracious host”.
