The broadcaster was forthright in his views on the US Vice President (Image: Getty)
has branded US Vice President “dumb” and “aggressive” following comments he made on Tuesday about British soldiers. Speaking to Fox News, the former Ohio senator attempted to explain the impact that the US’ “economic upside in the future of ” would have on the nation’s security.
Demonstrating his point, he added: “That is a way better security guarantee than 20,000 troops from some random country that hasn’t fought a war in 30 or 40 years.” The comments were widely interpreted as referring to the and , with the pair being the only nation to have publicly declared a willingness to deploy soldiers. The UK deployed soldiers to in 2001 following the US decision to invoke Article 5 of the Nato treaty following the September 11 attacks in New York City.
Don’t miss…
“Wow. A Vice-President who is as dumb as he is aggressive.” reacts to JD Vance describing Britain as ‘some random country that hasn’t fought a war in 30 or 40 years.’
— LBC (@LBC)
In the subsequent conflict, 457 soldiers died fighting the Taliban and providing security in the country alongside the United States, before their withdrawal in 2021.
Straight talking wasted no time in laying out his views on Vance and his disagreement with the comments.
He responded: “Wow. A Vice President who is as dumb as he is aggressive.
“That takes some doing because Mr Vice President, that ‘some random country that has not fought a war’, that would be the United Kingdom who stood alongside your troops in Iraq, not once but twice and in Afghanistan.”
Don’t miss… [REPORT]
636 British soldiers died in wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (Image: Getty)
Vance attempted to row back on his comments, insisting: “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.”
The Vice President did not clarify which countries he was referring to but later claimed that “there are many countries who are volunteering support who have neither the battlefield experience nor the military equipment to do anything meaningful.”
Shadow Defence Secretary responded: “Britain and France came to their aid deploying 1,000s of personnel to Afghanistan, including my own brother & numerous parliamentary colleagues, past & present. It’s deeply disrespectful to ignore such service & sacrifice.”
Conservative Party leader attempted to play down the comments. She said: “I know JD Vance quite well. I’ve looked at 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 quite animated. Let’s keep cool heads.”