Sir Keir Starmer today branded Donald Trump ‘insulting and frankly appalling’ as he led a chorus of fury over the US President’s vile slur against British soldiers who fought and died in Afghanistan.
The Prime Minister said the American leader should apologise for astonishing remarks belittling Nato’s role in the conflict in a television interview that worsened the deepest transatlantic rift in decades.
Politicians and military veterans reacted with outrage after the president told Fox News that Nato troops, including those from Britain, stayed ‘a little off the front lines’ during the war in Afghanistan.
Some 457 British service personnel were killed in the conflict in Afghanistan, fighting alongside the US, and countless more were severely wounded.
His remarks came after a week in which the president clashed with Nato allies, including the UK, over their refusal to agree to his demand that Greenland be brought under US control.
Speaking in Downing Street today Sir Keir said: ‘I consider President Trump’s remarks to be insulting and frankly appalling and I am not surprised they have caused such hurt to the loved ones of those who were killed or injured and, in fact, across the country.’
In response to comments from Diane Dernie, mother of severely injured veteran Ben Parkinson, he said: ‘I’ve made my position clear, and what I say to Diane is, if I had misspoken in that way or said those words, I would certainly apologise and I’d apologise to her.’
Ms Dernie had earlier said the PM should call out Trump and ‘make a stand’ for Britain.
She said she was ‘stunned as to how anyone could say such a thing’ in reaction to US President Donald Trump’s comments, adding: ‘I can assure you, the Taliban didn’t plant IEDs miles and miles back from the front line.’
Ian Sadler, whose son, Trooper Jack Sadler, 21, was killed in Afghanistan in 2007, added: ‘The British certainly were in the hot spots, they were on the front line, 457 of them were lost and there was probably three times as many seriously injured as deaths.’
In what was branded a cheap shot at his country’s allies he said he was ‘not sure’ the military alliance would be there for America ‘if we ever needed them’.
‘We’ve never needed them … we have never really asked anything of them,’ he told Fox.
‘They’ll say they sent some troops to Afghanistan, and they did, they stayed a little back, a little off the frontlines’.
No 10 today said that the president was ‘wrong in diminishing the sacrifice and service of our troops’, with the PM’s spokesman saying: ‘Their sacrifice and that of other Nato forces was made in the service of collective security and in response to an attack on our ally.’
And Tory leader Kemi Badenoch accused the president of talking ‘flat-out nonsense’, about those who ‘fought and died alongside the US’, adding: ‘Their sacrifice deserves respect not denigration.’
Labour’s Defence Secretary John Healey said: ‘Those British troops should be remembered for who they were: heroes who gave their lives in service of our nation.’
And Armed Forces Minister Al Cairns, who did five tours in Afghanistan with the Royal Marines, said the president’s words were ‘utterly ridiculous’.
‘Many courageous and honourable service personnel from many nations fought on the front line, many fought way beyond it,’ he said.
‘I served five tours in Afghanistan, many alongside my American colleagues. We shed blood, sweat and tears together and not everybody came home. These are bonds forged in fire, protecting US and shared interests, and actually protecting democracy overall.
‘I would suggest whoever believes these comments come have a whisky with me, my colleagues, their families and importantly the families of those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for both of our nations.’
Reform MP Robert Jenrick said the president’s comments were ‘offensive and wrong’.
Party leader Nigel Farage, a close ally of Mr Trump, has yet to comment.
But a Reform spokesman said: ‘Donald Trump’s comments are plain wrong.
‘For 20 years our armed forces fought bravely alongside America’s in Afghanistan.
‘We spent the same amount of money pro rata and we suffered the same losses.
‘Those men and women deserve our undying respect.’
Conservative MP Ben Obese-Jecty, who served in Afghanistan, said it was ‘sad to see our nation’s sacrifice, and that of our Nato partners, held so cheaply’.
Mr Obese-Jecty, a former captain in the Royal Yorkshire Regiment, added: ‘I saw firsthand the sacrifices made by British soldiers I served alongside in Sangin, where we suffered horrific casualties, as did the US Marines the following year.
‘I don’t believe US military personnel share the view of President Trump; his words do them a disservice as our closest military allies.’
Calvin Bailey, a Labour MP and former RAF officer who served alongside US special operations units in Afghanistan, chimed in, saying Trump’s claim ‘bears no resemblance to the reality experienced by those of us who served there’.
And Tan Dhesi, chairman of the Commons Defence Committee, said the president’s comments were ‘appalling and an insult to our brave British servicemen and women, who risked life and limb to help our allies, with many making the ultimate sacrifice’.
Speaking on the BBC’s Question Time, Labour MP Emily Thornberry, the chair of the foreign affairs committee, called it an ‘absolute insult’, adding: ‘How dare he say we weren’t on the frontline, how dare he. We have always been there whenever the Americans have wanted us, we have always been there.’
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said: ‘How dare he question their sacrifice?’
America is the only Nato member to have invoked the collective security provisions of its Article 5 clause – that an attack against one member is an attack on all.
That came after the September 11 attack on the World Trade Centre in New York in 2001, which led to a US-led invasion of Afghanistan.
The UK suffered the second-highest number of military deaths in the Afghanistan conflict at 457. The US saw 2,461 deaths. America’s allies suffered 1,160 deaths during the conflict – around a third of the total coalition deaths.
Speaking in Davos yesterday, the US President made a similar swipe against the 32-member military alliance, saying: ‘I know them all very well. I’m not sure that they’d be there. I know we’d be there for them. I don’t know that they would be there for us.’
Following the speech, Nato chief Rutte corrected the record to the US President, telling him: ‘There’s one thing I heard you say yesterday and today. You were not absolutely sure Europeans would come to the rescue of the US if you will be attacked. Let me tell you, they will, and they did in Afghanistan.’
Rutte’s rebuttal came after Trump called Denmark – which had the highest per capita death toll among coalition forces in Afghanistan – ‘ungrateful’ for US protection during the Second World War.
‘For every two Americans who paid the ultimate price, there was one soldier from another Nato country who did not come back to his family – from the Netherlands, from Denmark, and particularly from other countries,’ the Nato chief said.
‘So you can be assured, absolutely, if ever the United States were under attack, your allies will be with you. There is an absolute guarantee. I really want to tell you that because it pains me if you think it is not,’ Rutte told Trump.
