Britain's security ties with the United States are as strong as ever, Deputy Prime Minister Angela Raynor said on Tuesday, responding to the mistaken disclosure to a journalist of a conversation about US military action in Yemen.
Raynor said the United States must clarify comments mistakenly shared by senior US officials about European allies being incompetent.
"Our relationship between the UK and the US is a very productive, long-standing relationship. "We have very close ties and we continue to have them," Raynor told BBC radio.
A journalist was mistakenly included in a group chat on the messaging service Signal among US officials discussing US plans to strike the Iran-backed Houthi group in Yemen. In the chat, a person identified as US Vice President J.D. Vance wrote: "I just hate that we have to bail out Europe again".
In response, a person identified as Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth replied: "Vice President: I completely share your hatred of European food scum. This is a DISGUSTING one."
Forced to respond to these remarks, Raynor said: "People say things in private messages and the vice president needs to decide and clarify what he means by those conversations."
"We have been sharing intelligence and information for many decades and we continue to do so through our secure networks. The US needs to explain and decide what they are doing in terms of their security and this Signal messaging group."
Earlier, a spokesman for Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the government was confident that no British intelligence communications with the US would be leaked in this way.