'Joe the Plumber', a Conservative commentator who came to symbolise the American working class during the 2008 election, has called on Starbucks to scrap its plan to hire 10,000 refugees and to take on veterans instead.

Samuel Wurzelbacher accused the coffee company of “political grandstanding” after CEO Howard Schultz pledged to hire 10,000 refugees in response to Donald Trump’s immigration ban.

The Liberty Alliance vice president of public relations also said veterans were “the ones who made it possible for Starbucks to be where they are now.”

However, the chain announced a similar commitment in 2013 to hire 10,000 veterans by the end of 2018. Starbucks has hired more than 8,000 veterans and military spouses since 2014, according to the company.

The latest pledge came following Mr Trump’s executive order temporarily barring visitors from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States. It also suspended the US refugee resettlement program for 120 days and permanently barred Syrian refugees from entering the country.

Mr Schultz made the commitment in a company-wide letter in which he stated “uncertain times call for different measures.”

“We are living in an unprecedented time, one in which we are witness to the conscience of our country, and the promise of the American Dream, being called into question,” Mr Schultz wrote.

“There are more than 65 million citizens of the world recognised as refugees by the United Nations, and we are developing plans to hire 10,000 of them over five years in the 75 countries around the world where Starbucks does business.”