David Lammy pays £480 to keep present from JD Vance

David Lammy took the rare decision to pay out of his own pocket to keep the present gifted to him by JD Vance while serving as Foreign Secretary. According to newly released government transparency documents, Mr Lammy received a framed vinyl by The Harvard Band during the Vice President's recent holiday to Britain.

Gifts are often exchanged between ministers and foreign leaders as part of traditional diplomatic efforts. However due to strict rules, ministers are often not allowed to keep them if they exceed a £140 value limit. While the framed vinyl from Mr Vance was well in excess of this price limit, the official ministerial register reveals Mr Lammy purchased the £480 gift out of his own pocket.

Mr Lammy and Mr Vance formed an unlikely close friendship during the former's time as Britain's foreign secretary.

The recent trip made headlines when Mr Lammy accidentally broke the law while posing next to the US Vice President on a fishing trip at his grace-and-favour mansion at Chevening.

The pair went fishing at the 3,000-acre estate's private lake, with Mr Vance quipping that the activity had put "a stain on the special relationship" because Mr Lammy failed to capture any passing fish.

It emerged he did not have a fishing licence at the time of the activity. A rod licence is a requirement in England and Wales on both public and private land.

Fishing without one, if caught by the Environment Agency, can land the criminal with a fine of up to £2,500.

Mr Lammy has since purchased a licence and turned himself into the environmental quango, owning up to an "oversight".

While the regulator in charge of enforcing fishing licences pledged to fine anyone without a licence, it astonished Westminster by letting Mr Lammy off without any repercussions.