diff --git a/synapse/crypto/keyring.py b/synapse/crypto/keyring.py
index 8b6a59866f..bc5bb5cdb1 100644
--- a/synapse/crypto/keyring.py
+++ b/synapse/crypto/keyring.py
@@ -381,28 +381,24 @@ class Keyring(object):
     def get_server_verify_key_v2_indirect(self, server_names_and_key_ids,
                                           perspective_name,
                                           perspective_keys):
-        limiter = yield get_retry_limiter(
-            perspective_name, self.clock, self.store
-        )
-
-        with limiter:
-            # TODO(mark): Set the minimum_valid_until_ts to that needed by
-            # the events being validated or the current time if validating
-            # an incoming request.
-            query_response = yield self.client.post_json(
-                destination=perspective_name,
-                path=b"/_matrix/key/v2/query",
-                data={
-                    u"server_keys": {
-                        server_name: {
-                            key_id: {
-                                u"minimum_valid_until_ts": 0
-                            } for key_id in key_ids
-                        }
-                        for server_name, key_ids in server_names_and_key_ids
+        # TODO(mark): Set the minimum_valid_until_ts to that needed by
+        # the events being validated or the current time if validating
+        # an incoming request.
+        query_response = yield self.client.post_json(
+            destination=perspective_name,
+            path=b"/_matrix/key/v2/query",
+            data={
+                u"server_keys": {
+                    server_name: {
+                        key_id: {
+                            u"minimum_valid_until_ts": 0
+                        } for key_id in key_ids
                     }
-                },
-            )
+                    for server_name, key_ids in server_names_and_key_ids
+                }
+            },
+            long_retries=True,
+        )
 
         keys = {}
 
diff --git a/synapse/http/matrixfederationclient.py b/synapse/http/matrixfederationclient.py
index 4e6572df72..b7b7c2cce8 100644
--- a/synapse/http/matrixfederationclient.py
+++ b/synapse/http/matrixfederationclient.py
@@ -302,7 +302,7 @@ class MatrixFederationHttpClient(object):
         defer.returnValue(json.loads(body))
 
     @defer.inlineCallbacks
-    def post_json(self, destination, path, data={}):
+    def post_json(self, destination, path, data={}, long_retries=True):
         """ Sends the specifed json data using POST
 
         Args:
@@ -311,6 +311,8 @@ class MatrixFederationHttpClient(object):
             path (str): The HTTP path.
             data (dict): A dict containing the data that will be used as
                 the request body. This will be encoded as JSON.
+            long_retries (bool): A boolean that indicates whether we should
+                retry for a short or long time.
 
         Returns:
             Deferred: Succeeds when we get a 2xx HTTP response. The result
@@ -330,6 +332,7 @@ class MatrixFederationHttpClient(object):
             path.encode("ascii"),
             body_callback=body_callback,
             headers_dict={"Content-Type": ["application/json"]},
+            long_retries=True,
         )
 
         if 200 <= response.code < 300: