PM joins veterans in condemning claim that troops avoided frontlines and suggests US president should apologise

Keir Starmer has issued an unprecedented rebuke to Donald Trump for his “insulting and frankly appalling” remarks about British and other Nato troops in Afghanistan, and suggested he should apologise.

After a day of mounting outrage around the world over the US president’s claim that British and Nato troops who fought in Afghanistan avoided the frontlines, Starmer paid tribute to the 457 members of the armed services who lost their lives during the conflict.