JD Vance faced widespread condemnation for his words
Keir Starmer has spoken out after US Vice President JD Vance was accused of disrespecting British troops as he commented on the war in Ukraine.
Donald Trump’s sidekick recently told Fox News that Ukraine giving the US economic interests in their country was the best security guarantee against Russian invasion.
However, other countries – the UK and France specifically – have pledged to send thousands of peacekeeping troops to Ukraine to provide security guarantees in the event that a ceasefire can be agreed in order to ward off future Russian invasions.
However, in his interview with Fox News the vice president said that to ‘give Americans economic upside in the future of Ukraine’ was a far better security guarantee ‘than 20,000 troops from some random country that hasn’t fought a war in 30 or 40 years’.
Vance’s comments prompted widespread condemnation, and a spokesperson for Sir Keir Starmer said that the PM and the UK at large was ‘full of admiration for all British troops who have served, for instance, in Iraq and Afghanistan, many of whom have lost their lives in the process, and have fought, alongside allies including the United States’.
Vance backtracked on the comments and claimed on Twitter that it was ‘absurdly dishonest’ to suggest that his comments on a country that would send peacekeeping troops referred to either of the two countries that said they’d send peacekeeping troops.
Today (5 March) the prime minister addressed the House of Commons for the weekly session of Prime Minister’s Questions and opened with a statement paying tribute to members of the armed forces who died fighting alongside the UK’s allies.
He said: “Tomorrow marks 13 years since six young British soldiers were on patrol in Afghanistan when their vehicle was struck by an explosive tragically killing them all.
“These men fought and died for their country, our country. And across the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, 642 individuals died fighting for Britain alongside our allies, many more were wounded.
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“We will never forget their bravery and their sacrifice, and I know the whole House will join (with) me in remembering them and all those who serve our country.”
He was later asked by Liberal Democrat MP Richard Foord to ‘remind the US Government’ that British troops had fought and died in wars in which the US had asked for the UK’s help.
Foord specifically referred to Vance’s comments about ‘some random country that hasn’t fought a war in 30 or 40 years’ in his question.
The prime minister said: “We do remember the role that we’ve played historically with our allies and we particularly remember those that made the ultimate sacrifice in that duty for their country, and for our allies, and that’s why it’s so important that we make that point today.”
A number of other politicians in the UK have slated Vance for his comments, with Lib Dem defence spokesperson Helen Maguire, who served in Iraq, accusing Trump’s number two of ‘erasing from history the hundreds of British troops who gave their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan’.
“I saw firsthand how American and British soldiers fought bravely together shoulder to shoulder. Six of my own regiment, the Royal Military Police, didn’t return home from Iraq,” she said as she called on the UK’s ambassador to the US to get an apology from Vance.
Meanwhile, Tory MP and former veterans minister Johnny Mercer branded Vance a ‘clown’ and said he needed to ‘check his privilege’.
Mercer said: “I read JD Vance’s book, making the mistake of finding him quite interesting. By his own admission he spent his time in the Marines ‘writing articles and taking pictures’.
“Perhaps if he had got his hands dirty serving his country like so many of his fellow American and British veterans, chasing his own country’s crazy foreign policy ideas, he might not be so quick to dismiss their sacrifice.”
It would seem that JD Vance has achieved quite the political feat, uniting people from across the spectrum of British politics in their distaste for him.
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