Sir Keir Starmer said Donald Trump’s remarks about Nato troops in Afghanistan were “insulting and frankly appalling”.
The Prime Minister also suggested the US president should apologise for the comment which has sparked a huge backlash in Britain.
Speaking in Downing Street he paid tribute to the 457 British personnel who died and those who were injured during the two decades that UK forces were deployed to Afghanistan.
“I will never forget their courage, their bravery and the sacrifice they made for their country,” he said.
“There were many also who were injured, some with life-changing injuries.
British soldiers in Helmand province
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“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, the Prime Minister added: “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.”
Trump has been hit by a wave of condemnation after claiming Nato troops from European nations stayed away from the front line in Afghanistan.
The UK government dismissed the US president as “plainly wrong” in his comments about European armed forces.
A minister praised Britain’s military for their “honour, valour and patriotism,” stressing many UK soldiers “gave their lives” fighting in Afghanistan.
The Prime Minister’s spokesman added on Friday morning: “The President was wrong to diminish the role of NATO troops, including British forces, and their role in Afghanistan.”
More than 450 members of Britain’s armed forces lost their lives in Afghanistan
Trump sparked a furious backlash among MPs and veterans following his comments in an interview with Fox News in which he reiterated his suggestion that Nato would not support America if asked.
He said: “We’ve never needed them. They’ll say they sent some troops to Afghanistan… and they did, they stayed a little back, a little off the front lines.”
Health minister Stephen Kinnock, on the media round for the Government, dismissed Trump’s comments as “deeply disappointing.”
He added: “It just doesn’t really add up what he said because the fact of the matter is the only time Article V (on NATO mutual defence) has been invoked was to go to the aid of the United States after 9/11.”
He emphasised: “Many many British soldiers and many soldiers from other European Nato allies gave their lives in support of American-led missions in places like Afghanistan and Iraq.”
The only time Nato Article V mutual defence clause has been invoked is after the 9/11 terrorist attacks on America
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He stressed further: “I’m incredibly proud of our armed forces. They have put their lives on the line for our country.
“They are the definition of honour and valour and patriotism.
“Anybody who seeks to criticise what they have done and the sacrifices that they make is plainly wrong.
“President Trump’s comments are deeply disappointing.”
Defence Secretary John Healey said: “Nato’s Article 5 has only been triggered once. The UK and NATO allies answered the US call. And more than 450 British personnel lost their lives in Afghanistan.
“Those British troops should be remembered for who they were: heroes who gave their lives in service of our nation.”
Trump remarks drew condemnation from across the political spectrum, with critics pointing to the 457 British deaths in Afghanistan and highlighting Trump’s avoidance of military service in Vietnam.
Calvin Bailey MP (left)
Calvin Bailey
Leyton and Wanstead Labour MP Calvin Bailey, a former RAF officer who served alongside US special operations units in Afghanistan, said theUS president’s claim “bears no resemblance to the reality experienced by those of us who served there”.
Conservative MP Ben Obese-Jecty, who served in Afghanistan as a captain in the Royal Yorkshire Regiment, added that it was “sad to see our nation’s sacrifice, and that of our Nato partners, held so cheaply by the president of the United States”.
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”.
And Foreign Affairs Committee chairwoman Dame Emily Thornberry described them as “so much more than a mistake”, and “an insult” to the families of those who had died.
Trump has previously been criticised for avoiding being conscripted to fight in Vietnam thanks to being diagnosed with bone spurs in his heels – a claim that has been subject to significant doubt.
Former soldier, author and journalist Stephen Stewart said: “Trump’s comments are as offensive as they are inaccurate.
“It’s hugely ironic that someone who allegedly dodged the draft for the Vietnam War should make such a disgraceful statement.
“He has desecrated the memory of hundreds of British soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice in Afghanistan, people who we called friends and comrades.
“If he was a man of honour, he would get down on bended knees to ask forgiveness from the families of the fallen.”
Sir Ed Davey said the UK must ‘never play midwife to American aggression’ against a Nato ally in the Greenland row
PA Wire
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said in a post on X: “Trump avoided military service 5 times.
“How dare he question their sacrifice. Farage and all the others still fawning over Trump should be ashamed.”
The UK suffered the second highest number of military deaths in the Afghanistan conflict, behind the US, which saw 2,461 deaths.
In total, America’s allies suffered 1,160 deaths in the conflict, around a third of the total coalition deaths.
Mr Bailey also pointed to the high number of deaths per capita suffered by Denmark, which sent troops to fight alongside the British in Helmand province but has now had to fend off Trump’s bid to annex Greenland.
He said: “As I reminded the US forces I served with on the 4th of July in 2008, we were there because of a shared belief, articulated at America’s founding, that free people have inalienable rights and should not live under tyranny.
“That belief underpinned the response to 9/11, and it is worth reflecting on now.”
America remains the only country to have invoked the collective security provisions of NATO’s Article 5, with the alliance to provide support to the US after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
