David Lammy has referred himself to the environment watchdog after not having a rod licence on his fishing trip with US Vice-President JD Vance at Chevening House, Kent
David Lammy has referred himself to the environment watchdog after making a mistake on his fishing trip with US Vice President JD Vance.
The Foreign Secretary did not have a rod licence to go fishing when he hosted Donald Trump’s sidekick at his grace-and-favour retreat at Chevening House, Kent. Anglers in England and Wales aged 13 or over must have a rod licence to fish for freshwater species, such as carp, according to the Environment Agency.
Fishing illegally can incur a fine of up to £2,500 and offenders can also have their fishing equipment seized. Mr Lammy immediately purchased the relevant licences on learning of the administrative error. It comes after a lip reader revealed exactly what Donald Trump and Keir Starmer said to each other on the golf course in Scotland.
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The Foreign Secretary has never previously fished at Chevening House, and Chevening House provided the rods. He did not catch a fish, and all fish that were caught – including those by Mr Vance and his kids – were returned to the private lake.
An FCDO spokesman said: “The Foreign Secretary has written to the Environment Agency over an administrative oversight that meant the appropriate licences had not been acquired for fishing on a private lake as part of a diplomatic engagement at Chevening House last week.
“As soon as the Foreign Secretary was made aware of the administrative error, he successfully purchased the relevant rod fishing licences. He also wrote to the Environment Agency notifying them of the error, demonstrating how it would be rectified, and thanking them for their work protecting Britain’s fisheries.”
The US Vice President arrived in the UK last week for a family holiday. He started the visit with a meeting with Mr Lammy at Chevening. Mr Vance said ahead of a meeting between the pair: “The one strain on the special relationship is that all of my kids caught a fish, but the Foreign Secretary did not.”
“I really love this country,” Mr Vance said. “Having never been to this area before, I have to say the people who maintain I think really it love the human spirit, and lift up the human spirit.”
He thanked the people of England for “having such a beautiful place for foreigners like me to talk about the issues of the day because we really appreciate it and we’re really thrilled to be here.”
“I caught a few, actually,” he added, asked if he caught anything during their carp fishing trip. “I don’t want to brag, but I did OK.”