US Vice President JD Vance has told Britons to "push back against the crazies” who are offending by the flying of the Union Jack and St George's flag.

The Vice President's remarks came after he was asked to comment on the "Operation Raise the Colours" campaign that has swept the nation in recent weeks.

The grassroots movement was further egged on after councils in London and Birmingham pulled the British and English flags from bridges and lampposts - but left Palestinian ones untouched.

The Republican politician has frequently commented on cases of “infringements on free speech” in Britain.

JD Vance has told Britons to 'push back against the crazies'

The VP made an extraordinary intervention into 'Operation Raise the Colours'

The 41-year-old was asked by Fox News if he had seen how the St George's flag "simultaneously become controversial and patriotic”.

He responded by recounting that a friend of his was fearful of hoisting the American flag amid the Black Lives Matter riots in 2020.

Mr Vance said: “You see the same things happening in Europe, and I think we just have to be on guard against this stuff.

“It’s OK to be proud of your country. It’s, in fact, a good thing to be proud of your country.

“We should push back against the crazies who say we should be so ashamed of our culture and of our heritage that we shouldn’t be willing to fly a flag. It’s craziness.

“We got to call that craziness out. I’d encourage our European friends to follow suit.”

The Vice President issued a stark warning to Foreign Secretary David Lammy earlier this month.He told the Labour minister that Britain risked walking down a “very dark path” of “censoring rather than engaging with a diverse array of opinions”

Mr Vance also spoke out against a “backslide in conscience rights” in Britain at the Munich security conference earlier this year.

He said: “A little over two years ago, the British government charged Adam Smith-Connor, a 51-year-old physiotherapist and an Army veteran, with the heinous crime of standing 50 metres from an abortion clinic and silently praying for three minutes, not obstructing anyone, not interacting with anyone, just silently praying on his own.”

During a meeting between President Donald Trump and Sir Keir Starmer in the Oval Office, the 41-year-old warned that attacks on free speech not only adversely impacted Britons, but American companies “and by extension American citizens”.

After his comments, Mr Starmer retorted: “We’ve had free speech for a very long time, it will last a long time, and we are very proud of that.”