Nigel Farage has issued a surprise condemnation of his long-term friend JD Vance, after the US Vice President appeared to insult Britain’s military service over the last few decades.
In a Fox News interview last night, the Vice President dismissed offers by Britain and France for troops in to uphold a peace deal as coming from “random countries that haven’t fought a war in 30 or 40 years”.
The swipe was immediately condemned by almost all politicians in Britain as an insult to the British servicemen and women who lost their lives helping America in defence of democracy.
Speaking at the farmers’ rally in Westminster this afternoon, issued a rare and strong rebuke of Mr Vance, accusing his claims of being “wrong, wrong, wrong.”
The Reform UK leader and usual ally of blasted: “JD Vance is wrong. Wrong wrong wrong.”
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Nigel Farage voiced rare condemnation of the VP (Image: GB News)
“For 20 years in Afghanistan, pro-rata – our size against America’s – we spent the same amount of money, we put the same number of men and women in. We suffered the same losses.
“We stood by America all through those 20 years, putting in exactly the same contribution. And alright, they may be six times bigger but we did our bit. So, on this one JD is wrong.”
His comments spark a marked departure from Tory leader Kemi Badenoch, who claimed JD Vance had not criticised Britain and those criticising him “are getting carried away”.
She said: “I know JD Vance quite well, I’ve looked the comments. I don’t think he actually said that. A lot of people are getting carried away, they’re saying loads of things and getting animated. Let’s keep cool heads.”
“America is our closest ally, and I believe that President Trump and JD Vance want peace. They’re looking after their national interest. We need to do so as well.”
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JD Vance’s comments sparked instant backlash in Britain (Image: Getty)
Confusingly one of those condemning the Vice President including Kemi Badenoch’s own shadow Defence Secretary James Cartlidge, who called them “deeply disrespectful”.
In a press briefing this lunchtime, Sir Keir’s official spokesman said: “The Prime Minister, and the country as a whole, is 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 obviously served alongside allies, including the United States.”
In further comments, the Prime Minister’s spokesman refused to clarify whether the UK had been “ambushed” by ’s announcement on Monday that he would stop all military aid to .
The news came just hours after Sir Keir told MPs he was unaware of speculation of any announcement by the US president.
In a humiliating climbdown, Mr Vance took to X to insist he had not insulted British troops.
He said: “This is absurdly dishonest. I don’t even mention the UK or France in the clip, both of whom have fought bravely alongside the US over the last 20 years, and beyond.”
However, he added: “But let’s be direct: there are many countries who are volunteering (privately or publicly) support who have neither the battlefield experience nor the military equipment to do anything meaningful.”
Many users were quick to point out that the only countries to offer ground troops so far are the UK and France, so his original comments could only have been directed at the two European allies.