'You cannot ad-Vance': Fury in the Cotswolds as US secret service agents take over for Vice President's holiday
The sleepy Oxfordshire hamlet of Dean has been swarming with US secret service and police as US Vice President JD Vance begins his holiday.
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Squads of US Secret Service officers, dressed down in cream chinos and pale blue T-shirts, and uniformed officers from Thames Valley Police have been deployed in huge numbers to ensure the VP's safety - much to the annoyance of locals.
"Generally we like to welcome everybody to Chipping Norton, but no, I’d absolutely kick him in the shins”, one Chipping Norton local told LBC today.
She is speaking not of David Cameron, Ellen DeGeneres, The Beckhams, or any member of the ‘Chipping Norton Set’. Her strong words are reserved for the US Vice President who has provoked a considerable amount of anger and irritation with his family holiday.
Ever since JD Vance’s 19-vehicle car convoy arrived in Dean, the sleepy hamlet has turned into a quasi fortress.
Uniformed and non-uniformed officers with sniffer dogs patrol roads, and all roads and footpaths are closed with the area effectively in lockdown to non-residents.
Police cars and vans are scattered across Chipping Norton and the surrounding areas, with officers informing confused locals about why they can’t drive down particularly roads.
Staying just four miles away at the Grade II listed, 18th century Manor House in Dean - with David (now Lord) and Samantha Cameron as neighbours - JD Vance is with his wife Usha and their three children.
Locals in ‘Chippy’ are extremely polite, but most sigh and look exasperated as I explain that I have been sent from London to ask them about JD Vance.
The area is no stranger to recent visits from high profile American politicians. Recently Kamala Harris snuck around the area enjoying dinner at a pub in Charlbury.
But on the current Vice President's visit emotions run high.
“What he did to President Zelenskyy was the most awful thing I’ve ever seen, and he’s a bully, he’s not welcome as far as I’m concerned”, one gentleman said.
Keith Ruddle, one of the editors of the Chipping Norton News (the town’s newspaper), had a more conciliatory attitude towards the visit.
He explained to me that everybody was “terribly welcoming to visitors”, adding that it is a “great place to come and visit” and “not affected by celebrity and notoriety”.
“The ‘Chipping Norton set’ have never lived in the town”, he said.
On JD Vance specifically Mr Ruddle recommends that “he ought to go for a walk in the countryside because it’s a great place to do that… If he wants to go and sit in a pub I’m sure he’d be very welcome and filmed by everybody”.
The owners of the Manor hosting the Vance family holiday have apologised to locals for the “circus surrounding the visit”.
With Donald Trump walking aimlessly on top of the roof of the White House in recent days, the US Vice President has clearly picked a quiet time for yet another holiday.
The man with seemingly unlimited annual leave is staying just a stones throw from Jeremy Clarkson’s farm shop.
Clarkson recently described Vance as a “bearded God-botherer” with “no clue about history”, so it seems unlikely that the US Vice President will pop in for a crate of Hawkstone larger.
A crying shame given potential spectacle of Gerald, Kaleb or “cheerful Charlie” sitting down for a beer with the veep and not giving a diddly squat about what he has to say.