SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
The United States and Britain called their alliance the Special Relationship. But as NPR's Lauren Frayer reports, it was tested this week by some comments made by America's vice president.
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LINDSAY HOYLE: We now come to prime minister's questions.
LAUREN FRAYER, BYLINE: When Prime Minister Keir Starmer opened his weekly PMQs - prime minister's questions - in Parliament this week, he started with a tribute to a group of British soldiers killed in Afghanistan.
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PRIME MINISTER KEIR STARMER: Sergeant Nigel Coupe was 33.
FRAYER: It was solemn but unexpected, given those deaths were 13 years ago.
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STARMER: We will never forget their bravery and their sacrifice. And I know the whole House will join in me in remembering them and all those who serve our country.
FRAYER: But the prime minister may have felt the need to highlight the sacrifices of British troops at war after hearing Vice President Vance say this on Fox News days earlier.
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VICE PRESIDENT JD VANCE: The very best security guarantee is to give Americans economic upside in the future of Ukraine. 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.
FRAYER: Now, Vance did not specify which random country he's talking about, but France and the U.K. are the only countries that have pledged to send peacekeepers to Ukraine. And Brits are angry.
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NICK FERRARI: Wow. A vice president who is as dumb as he's aggressive.
RORY STEWART: Profound ignorance, his insecurity, his silliness.
JULIA HARTLEY-BREWER: Don't you dare. Don't you dare insult our troops.
FRAYER: That was radio host Nick Ferrari, former MP Rory Stewart and political journalist Julia Hartley-Brewer - just a smattering of the social media videos we're able to play on the radio. Lots have been more profane. Vance hit a particular nerve with fellow veterans.
RICHARD SHIRREFF: I've come under fire in Kosovo. I know what war is. I've come under fire in Iraq. I know what war is.
FRAYER: General Sir Richard Shirreff is a former U.K. army officer and NATO official. He calls Vance's comments deeply insulting.
SHIRREFF: To a country that has stood alongside America through absolutely thick and thin, and he needs to read history and remember history.
FRAYER: After Vance's comments went viral, he wrote on social media that France and the U.K. have fought bravely alongside the U.S. But for many here, the feeling of being insulted by a close ally has exacerbated another feeling - that America is no longer the ally it used to be.
Lauren Frayer, NPR News, London. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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