‘Draft-dodger Trump’s troop claims are an insult – Starmer is correct to name it out’
‘The Prime Minister is usually a master of keeping his cool but Donald Trump’s shameful claims that British forces avoided the front line in Afghanistan were too much’
British troops carrying the coffin of a fallen soldier in Afghanistan(Image: Getty Images)
Keir Starmer looked absolutely furious.
The Prime Minister is usually a master of keeping his cool but Donald Trump’s shameful claims that British forces avoided the front line in Afghanistan were too much. After his spokesman said this was “wrong”, a visibly angry Starmer went further, saying the remarks were “insulting and frankly appalling, and suggested Trump should apologise.
The PM doesn’t make a habit of criticising the thin-skinned US President publicly. But this appalling dismissal of fallen British soldiers – as offensive as it is false – could not go unchallenged. Indeed, Trump’s claim that Nato sent “some troops” but they “stayed a little back, a little off the front lines” is so toxic that even sycophant Nigel Farage called it out.
In fact, the UK and Nato allies answered America’s call in its darkest hour after 9/11 and 457 Brits paid with their lives in Afghanistan. Thousands more were wounded. Meanwhile, Trump dodged the draft to serve in the Vietnam War.
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Starmer’s rebuke is certainly the strongest he has issued yet against Trump, and one of the most robust criticisms of a US President by a UK PM that I can recall. He clearly had to act as recriminations mounted from bereaved families and MPs across the political spectrum.
But Starmer will have cared personally too. Public service and patriotism are at the heart of his politics, and he’ll have no truck with Trump’s casual dismissal of the sacrifice of British troops.
The UK-US relationship is critical on so many fronts – defence, intelligence, economic cooperation. But Starmer has started to draw lines in the sand. This is clear on Ukraine and also on Greenland, as the PM couldn’t have been clearer than Trump’s expansionist demands are completely unacceptable.
As Russia wages war against Ukraine and threatens the rest of Europe, the sacrifice asked of Britain’s armed forces is not an abstract question.
Earlier this month, I travelled to the icy north of Norway where I met Royal Marines commandos training to wage war in the Arctic. These elite fighters, stationed at Camp Viking, spend months each year learning how to survive and fight in sub-zero temperatures.
Those I spoke to were clear that their presence there, alongside the Norwegian Armed Forces, is a deterrent to Russia. But also that they are prepared if they have to fight.
Trump’s ignorant and careless words about Nato forces are an insult to those who died or were wounded in Afghanistan, and for those prepared to defend their countries against Russia.
American military personnel who served alongside British and other allied forces are unlikely to be impressed either.
