Labour MP Emily Thornberry launched a scathing attack on Donald Trump during BBC's Question Time, accusing the US President of insulting British troops who served in Afghanistan. The audience applauded as Thornberry condemned Trump's claim that the US 'has never needed NATO' and his suggestion that UK forces 'stayed a little back, off the front line.'
Thornberry, representing Islington South and Finsbury, said: 'It's an absolute insult. It's an insult to 457 families who lost someone in Afghanistan. How dare he say we weren't on the front line? How dare he? We have always been there whenever the Americans have wanted us, we have always been there.' She also criticised Trump for avoiding military service, stating: 'How dare this man who has never seen any action... manage to avoid it do this?'
Liberal Democrat MP Layla Moran joined the criticism, calling Trump 'a bully' and 'an international gangster.' She added: 'We know what this guy is like. We are in a school. He is a bully... He is behaving like an international gangster and they only understand strength.'
The remarks came after Trump's comments at the World Economic Forum in Davos, where he pressured NATO allies over Greenland. Lucy Aldridge, whose son William was the youngest British soldier killed in Afghanistan, described Trump's words as 'extremely upsetting.'
