Ex-UK Army chief makes ‘limited’ jab at Donald Trump during BBC Question Time

A former chief of the UK’s defence staff has suggested that Donald Trump has a “limited” understanding of history after the US President called Volodymyr Zelensky a “dictator”.

Mr Trump made the comments earlier this week as he called for Ukraine to hold elections as part of a peace deal with Russia.

Former Chief of the Defence Staff, General Nick Carter, appeared on the BBC‘s Question Time programme, which this week took place in Kilburn, north west London.

He said: “People have been saying that he’s been treating his allies like enemies, and I think many of us are feeling very uncomfortable about the rhetoric that’s been emerging from Washington at the moment.

“And I also profoundly believe, if you go back to Winston Churchill’s observation, that there’s only one thing worse than fighting alongside allies, it’s fighting without allies. And I think he needs to remember that.

General Carter then described an occasion in 2019 during D-Day commemorations when he looked after Mr Trump, “some half an hour or so”.

“It became very obvious to me,” he claimed, “that his understanding of history was somewhat limited… He really does need to be educated on the history of what we’re looking at here.”

Without this, it would be difficult to reach a reasonable and secure peace, the former military chief added.

Before Sir Nick spoke, a man in the audience, who seemed to be Ukrainian, said Russians had been killing Ukrainians for centuries, and claimed that Mr Trump was “either not informed” or was “deliberately provoking” a reaction with his recent remarks. Earlier this week, the US President branded Volodymyr Zelensky a “dictator”, an unfounded allegation that sparked strong reactions among many allies of Kyiv.

The panellists in today’s episode also included Trump campaign adviser Jan Halper-Hayes and Ukrainian politician Lesia Vasylenko.

Cabinet Office minister Nick Thomas-Symonds MP and former Conservative Ben Wallace, who spent five years as the UK’s Defence Secretary, were also in attendance.

Mr Wallace has said Sir Keir must increase the UK’s defence spending, and earlier this week accused Mr Trump of echoing “propaganda lines” from the Kremlin.

He told LBC: “Well, I know Mar-a-Largo is quite close to Disney World, but that was pure Disney in both sort of facts and reality.

“And I think what you were actually hearing is Donald Trump‘s realisation that if you don’t have skin in the game, you don’t get a say, as much as you think you do.

“I mean, I saw them all sitting around that table in Riyadh in Saudi Arabia.”

He added: “I’m sure they did a lot of interesting things in four hours. But fundamentally, if you want to get a peace deal in Ukraine, you’re going to need the people who are going to have to put skin in the game to make it happen.”

Mr Thomas Symonds is Sir Keir Starmer‘s EU negotiator. The former shadow Home Secretary was an ardent Remainer, and advocated for a second referendum.

In 2019, he described a second vote as a “preferable outcome”. Now he is working towards the Government’s goal of “resetting” the UK’s relationship with Brussels.

Question Time was first broadcast in 1979, and was hosted by Sir Robin Day before David Dimbleby later took the helm.

Nowadays, BBC stalwart Fiona Bruce is in the hot seat after taking over in 2019.