Care minister Stephen Kinnock criticises US president over claim Nato troops stayed away from frontline in Afghanistan Good morning. Donald Trump enjoys causing offence but the problem with having a reputation for being outrageous and provocative is that, as people get used to your outrages, you have to go further and further to continue to get a response. We are seeing the outcome of that this morning. In his meandering ramble at Davos (a cavalcade of falsehoods, as explained by CNN here), Trump repeated a criticism of Nato he has made before, saying: “What we have gotten out of NATO is nothing, except to protect Europe from the Soviet Union and now Russia.” This was so wrong that even Nigel Farage felt impelled to speak out and say so. We’ve never needed them. We have never really asked anything of them. They’ll say they sent some troops to Afghanistan … and they did, they stayed a little back, a little off the front lines. Many, many British soldiers and many soldiers from other European Nato allies gave their lives in support of American missions, American-led missions in places like Afghanistan and Iraq … I think anybody who seeks to criticise what they have done and the sacrifices that they make is plainly wrong. I think the reaction to President Trump’s comments are very clear from right across the political spectrum, and I think the British public feels very strongly about the need to defend our armed forces and to support them in the incredibly important work that they do in the dangerous and turbulent world in which we live. Continue reading...

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