Doug Beattie, a former leader of the Ulster Unionist party, an MLA (member of the legislative assembly in Northern Ireland) and a former soldier, has said that Donald Trump is “unhinged”. Referring to Trump’s comments about Nato and Afghanisation, he said:
Trump really is an unhinged individual.
457 UK military personnel KIA in Afghan.
Over 2,200 injured, of which over 620 seriously.They fought with courage and dedication and Trump cannot be allowed to trample on their memory
Good morning. Donald Trump enjoys causing offence but the problem with having a reputation for being outrageous and provocative is that, as people get used to your outrages, you have to go further and further to continue to get a response. We are seeing an example of that this morning.
In his meandering ramble at Davos (a cavalcade of falsehoods, as explained by CNN here), Trump repeated a criticism of Nato he has made before, saying: “What we have gotten out of Nato is nothing, except to protect Europe from the Soviet Union and now Russia.” This was so wrong that even Nigel Farage felt impelled to speak out and say so.
But yesterday, in what could be seen as a retort to the point Farage made, Trump doubled down.
Trump told Fox News that he was not sure Nato allies would be there for the US “if we ever needed them”. He went on:
We’ve never needed them. We have never really asked anything of them.
They’ll say they sent some troops to Afghanistan … and they did, they stayed a little back, a little off the front lines.
Even in an age where outrageous comments are pumped out by social media all the time, this hit a new low; in almost every country in the world, dishonouring soldiers who have died in conflict crosses a line.
As Jamie Grierson reports, British politicians have been lining up to criticise the president.
And even ministers seem to have been given licence to speak out. For the last year, Keir Starmer and his team have avoided criticising Trump in public over almost everything. But Stephen Kinnock, the health minister who was doing a media round for the government this morning, did feel confident speaking out – even if he did not really channel the outrage many Britons will feel. Kinnock told Sky News:
President Trump’s comments are deeply disappointing, there is no other way to say that. I don’t know really why he said them. I don’t think there’s any basis for him to make those comments.
Kinnock explained:
Many, many British soldiers and many soldiers from other European Nato allies gave their lives in support of American missions, American-led missions in places like Afghanistan and Iraq …
I think anybody who seeks to criticise what they have done and the sacrifices that they make is plainly wrong. I think the reaction to President Trump’s comments are very clear from right across the political spectrum, and I think the British public feels very strongly about the need to defend our armed forces and to support them in the incredibly important work that they do in the dangerous and turbulent world in which we live.
Starmer himself has not commented yet, but Kinnock said he expected the PM would raise this with Trump directly. “He will, I’m sure, be raising this issue with the president,” Kinnock told LBC.
Here is the agenda for the day.
10am: Peers resume their debate on the assisted dying bill. As Jessica Elgot reports, the bill supporters think filibustering by opponents of the bill mean the legislation has almost no chance of passing before the end of this parliamentary session.
Morning: Kemi Badenoch, the Tory leader, is on a visit in Essex. Separately, Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, is on a visit in Surrey.
11.30am: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.
Early afternoon: Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, holds a press conference about the hospital infections scandal.
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