- Have YOU seen JD Vance in the Cotswolds? Email: rory.tingle@mailonline.co.uk
Protesters are descending on the Cotswolds today for a ‘JD Vance not welcome party’ – as the countryside swarms with secret service agents and Scotland braces for its own potential visit.
Members of the Stop Trump Coalition have vowed to make a racket to show their opposition to the US Vice President’s ‘politics of hate’, but will struggle to get anywhere near the hamlet where he is staying amid a massive security operation.
Mr Vance and his family are renting an 18th-century manor house in the tiny settlement of Dean, where residents have been left disgruntled by road closures and checkpoints manned by police with sniffer dogs.
Every time the politician leaves he is joined by a vast motorcade, which yesterday made a stop at Daylesford Organic farm shop, where he was shown around by Tory ‘super-donor’ and billionaire businessman Lord Bamford.
Mr Vance is considering following up his Cotswold holiday with a visit to Ayrshire later this week, prompting police to ready a ‘significant policing operation’ involving as many as 1,000 officers.
Preparations were seen underway today at Carnell Estates outside Kilmarnock, Scotland, which was famously the temporary home of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie during the filming of World War Z. Meanwhile, US military planes were seen arriving at nearby Prestwick Airport.
A Police Scotland spokesman said: ‘Planning is under way for a potential visit to Scotland by the Vice President of the United States.
‘Details of any visit would be for the White House to comment on, however it is important that we prepare in advance for what would be a significant policing operation.’
It comes just weeks after President Donald Trump was in Scotland to play golf on his courses in Turnberry and Aberdeenshire.
The Stop Trump Coalition has been leading protests against both Mr Trump and Mr Vance’s visits, and vowed to come out in force later today.
‘JD Vance is a hideous moral vacuum and the British public want nothing to do with him,’ said spokesman Zoe Gardner.
‘It is nauseating to watch ministers’ displays of fake friendship with this authoritarian, anti-democratic, genocide-enabling US regime.
‘We will be throwing a ‘Vance Not Welcome’ party – using our free speech to let him know he and his politics of hate are not welcome in the Cotswolds or any part of our country.’
Lord Bamford’s wife, Carole, set up Daylesford Organic in 2002, with the shop previously hitting the headlines for charging £950 for a wicker-style blanket basket.
JD Vance is believed to have stayed in the shop for around three hours yesterday and to have taken particular interest in the bread counter, where he was seen trying samples.
One person posted on social media: ‘Stopped off at a farm shop…so did JD Vance. Security everywhere.’
Another added: ‘JD Vance decided to go to Daylesford Farm [at] the same time as us.’
Daylesford Organic, which is situated on 3,500 acres of farmland, is known for its upmarket goods.
Items on sale when the Daily Mail visited in October last year included Swedish side tables priced at £3,500 each and a £6,950 burnt cedar wood ‘kindled’ bowl.
Meanwhile, an influencer was also left baffled in March when she paid an eye-watering £37 for just four grocery items.
Vance’s visit to Daylesford Organic yesterday came after his motorcade was seen passing through Chipping Norton in the afternoon.
All entrances to the hamlet of Dean – two roads and three public footpaths – were subsequently blocked off.
Only residents of the hamlet were allowed in and out, dog walkers were diverted, and those entering the area were subject to searches.
Yesterday, one local councillor labelled the heavy security presence ‘intimidating’ and compared the sight of guards in suits and sunglasses patrolling quiet lanes to scenes from Men In Black.
‘We understand that people do need security but I think they haven’t been discreet about it,’ said councillor Andy Graham.
‘I think that tends to generate more concern than is necessary. Roads have been closed up.’
Mr Vance arrived in the Cotswolds yesterday with his wife, Usha, and children – Ewan, eight, Vivek, five, and Mirabel, three – after the family drove up from London following a private tour of Hampton Court on Sunday.
Mr Vance rocked up at Henry VIII’s former residence for a morning tour – forcing the site to delay its public opening to 12pm.
He now appears to have finished his official business after making a brief trip on Friday to Chevening House, the official residence of British foreign secretary David Lammy.
Mr Lammy, 53, and Mr Vance, 41, are understood to have forged an unlikely friendship and spent time with each other’s families, alongside engaging in a short, bilateral meeting.
The massive security operation surrounding Dean Manor has prompted its owner to apologise to neighbours for the disruption.
Pippa Hornby, who bought the 18th-century Cotswolds home with her husband Johnny in 2017, told villagers that she was ‘so sorry for the circus’ set to take place across the coming days, The Telegraph reported.
The manor house was built in 1702 for the MP Thomas Rowney and is close to Jeremy Clarkson’s Diddly Squat farm.
Set across six acres of land, the sprawling property is home to two cellars, a tennis court, rose garden, basement gym and Georgian orangery.
There has been intense activity around the manor house for days.
