Keir Starmer took a thinly-veiled swipe at JD Vance today with tributes to Britain’s war dead after the US vice president belittled their sacrifice. Sir Keir used Prime Minister’s Questions to mark the anniversaries this week of two incidents in Afghanistan 13 and 18 years ago in which UK troops were killed.

It came after Mr Vance was accused of ‘disrespecting’ the sacrifice of British troops who fought alongside American servicemen in Afghanistan and Iraq in a TV interview. On Monday night he told Fox News that signing a minerals deal with US President Donald Trump was a better security guarantee for Ukraine than ‘20,000 troops from some random country that hasn’t fought a war in 30 or 40 years’.

Though he did not name any countries, the UK and France are the only countries which had publicly pledged anything near that many troops for peacekeeping. Sir Keir opened PMQs by marking the deaths of six soldiers in a bomb attack in 2012, as well as the death of a Royal Marine from 42 Commando in 2003, both in Afghanistan.

He told the Commons ‘we will never forget their bravery and their sacrifice’, adding: ‘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. ‘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.’

Seething ex-servicemen have also pointed out that 636 British troops died in Afghanistan and Iraq after the UK joined US military action in the wake of the 9/11 terror attacks. Following the furious backlash at his remarks, Mr Vance later attempted to quell the anger by scrambling to clarify his comments. He claimed he hadn’t been aiming his barb at Britain or France – who are the only two countries to publicly commit to a peacekeeping force in Ukraine.

Yet Mr Vance failed to clarify which nations he had been referring to. This saw pressure continue to pile on Lord Mandelson, Britain’s ambassador to the US, to extract an apology from the Vice President. Shadow defence secretary James Cartlidge yesterday described the remarks as ‘deeply disrespectful’ while Tory MP Ben Obese-Jecty, who fought in Afghanistan and Iraq, said they were ‘unacceptable’.

Mr Obese-Jecty cited Mr Vance’s account in his memoir, Hillbilly Elegy, of his own time as a Marine Corps journalist in Iraq, where he said he ‘was lucky to escape any real fighting’. The MP for Huntingdon went on: ‘I was part of British forces fighting in highly kinetic operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, the latter in response to Article 5 following 9/11.

‘The disrespect shown by the new US vice president to the sacrifices of our service personnel is unacceptable.’ Today Liberal Democrat MP Richard Foord asked the Prime Minister to ‘remind the US Government’ of the UK’s contributions to wars post 9/11 in response to comments made by US Vice-President JD Vance.

The Honiton and Sidmouth MP said: ‘Daniel Coffey from Cullompton lost his life while serving in Iraq. His grandfather said yesterday that Vice-President JD Vance should have a lot more respect for those who lost their lives, in response to the Vance comment that some ‘random country that hasn’t fought a war in 30 or 40 years’. ‘Will the Prime Minister gently remind the US government the UK was there for the US following the 9/11 attacks when Lord Robertson invoked article five and that we were there for the US for the intervention in Iraq, and they might remember our longstanding friendship when we think about security guarantees for Ukraine?’

Sir Keir Starmer replied: ‘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.’

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