Angela Rayner continues Labour's love-bombing of Donald Trump (who she once called an 'absolute buffoon') as Deputy PM chats with incoming 'hillbilly' vice president JD Vance

Angela Rayner has continued Labour's love-bombing of Donald Trump 's incoming White House team by speaking with US vice president-elect JD Vance .

The Deputy Prime Minister revealed she and Mr Vance, a self-proclaimed 'hillbilly', discussed their 'plans for the future' and how they would be 'working together'.

It is the latest effort by senior Labour ministers to fix relations with the new US administration having previously been publicly critical of Mr Trump.

During the Covid pandemic, Ms Rayner labelled Mr Trump an 'absolute buffoon' and, when he lost the 2020 election , said she was 'so happy to see the back of Donald Trump'.

Foreign Secretary David Lammy is also under pressure for hurling insults at Mr Trump during his first term in the White House.

He once branded the president-elect 'a racist KKK and Nazi sympathiser'.

Ms Rayner posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, last night that it was 'good to speak' to Mr Vance, an Ohio senator.

She wrote: 'Good to speak to US Vice President-elect as UK Deputy Prime Minister.

'We spoke about our plans for the future and how, working together, we build on the special relationship between our great countries.'

The Prime Minister spoke to Mr Trump on Wednesday after his historic election win.

Sir Keir Starmer offered 'hearty congratulations' in their first conversation since Mr Trump defeated Democrat rival Kamala Harris.

Downing Street said: 'The PM offered his hearty congratulations and said he looked forward to working closely with president-elect Trump across all areas of the special relationship.'

Sir Keir met Mr Trump during a visit to New York in September, where they had dinner at Trump Tower, along with Mr Lammy.

Mr Trump will be inaugurated on 20 January 20 in Washington DC.

Labour are scrambling to forge relations with Mr Trump amid concerns his team will be unwilling to work with those who have previously insulted him.

In 2020, Ms Rayner told ITV of Mr Trump's handling of the Covid crisis: 'He's an absolute buffoon. He has no place in the White House.

'He's an embarrassment and he should be ashamed of himself, especially when thousands of Americans have died.'

Ms Rayner has also dismissed Mr Vance's description of the UK as a 'truly Islamist' country with nuclear weapons.

In July she told ITV that Mr Vance had said 'quite a lot of fruity things in the past' but said does not 'recognise' his view of the UK.

But there are signs that Mr Trump could forgive senior Labour ministers for their past criticism, given Mr Vance himself once publicly called Mr Trump an 'idiot' and 'reprehensible'.

He was even reported to have privately compared Mr Trump to Adolf Hitler, before years later becoming his pick for vice-president.