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Gordon Brown was accused of ignoring the welfare of British troops today after military chiefs revealed he had slashed key defence projects.
David Cameron seized on fresh evidence to the Iraq inquiry that Mr Brown had imposed a drastic “guillotine” on Ministry of Defence spending when he was Chancellor seven years ago.
The clash came as Labour unveiled its defence blueprint, pledging to build aircraft carriers and cut costs by joining forces with the French.
Former MoD permanent secretary Sir Kevin Tebbit told the inquiry that Mr Brown's cuts had led to a “long-term, corrosive effect” on the armed forces. The issue dominated Prime Minister's Questions in the Commons.
Mr Brown angrily denied he had cut spending for frontline troops and said that as chancellor he had provided the best funding for the MoD in 20 years.
Mr Cameron said witnesses to the Iraq inquiry had made clear that Mr Brown “made a series of bad mistakes that meant our armed forces were not equipped properly when they were sent into harm's way”.
Sir Kevin, the MoD's top civil servant for seven years, told the inquiry Mr Brown suddenly slashed military spending six months after the March 2003 invasion of Iraq.
Sir Kevin said that he had to launch an “across-the-board major savings exercise” to meet the Treasury's “arbitrary” cuts.
Projects affected included destroyers, frigates, minesweepers and patrol vessels, Challenger tanks, artillery and Jaguar aircraft, he told the inquiry. Armed forces personnel and civil servants also had to be cut.
Sir Kevin stressed that defence chiefs got the day to day resources needed for Iraq but admitted the cuts had a long-term impact.
He said: “I was running essentially a crisis budget rather than one with sufficient resources to be able to plan as coherently as well for the long term as we would have liked.”
The problem arose when the Treasury realised that Whitehall accounting rules introduced in 2002 to drive down costs had actually allowed the MoD to increase spending, the inquiry heard.
Sir Kevin said: “By the summer of 2003 the Treasury felt that we were using far too much cash. And in September 2003, the chancellor of the day instituted a complete guillotine on our settlement.”
Former defence secretary John Reid admitted to the inquiry that while he always “got what we needed” for military action in Iraq and Afghanistan, the MoD's overall equipment budget suffered from cuts.
Reader views (5)
Has Val Daniels(absentee tax exile?) in Mijas no shame at all.
How selective chucking muck at Cameron whilst cravenly avoiding mentiopn of the testimony of former MoD permanent secretary Sir Kevin Tebbit. Suirely as Val is not a resident she isn't party to what went on. Blimey she believes serial liar Brown.
Perhaps she might ponder the irony of her creepy comment "Why do you play pick and mix with your reporting instead of telling the complete story?"
The3 cap obviously doesn't fit Val. Too small????
- Notexile Valagain, London England not Spain, 03/02/2010 17:05
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Brown was so busy stabbing Blair in the back it's a wonder he gave him anything to play God with his toy soldiers.
Whatever is going on with our Country. Illegal wars,young men fighting with inadequate equipment, fraudulent expense claims and a House of Commons behaving like a kindergarten not to mention a bankrupt economy.
20 Years ago any one of these would have resulted in an election.
Please lets find a way to restore dignity and integrity into Parliament and lets be represented by men and women who truly care about us, the people who voted for them.
We are sick to death of lobby fodder and sparing, slick words and spin.
I don't care what party is in power. Government and resolving the issues, thats what I care about.
- John Hodgkinson, Sheffield England, 03/02/2010 16:48
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Now we know why Gormless announced his military spending review yesterday. Nothing like getting your retaliation in early. What he took away in 2002/3, he is now proposing to give back. A bit late though.
- Nobby Clark, Perth, the Scottish one, 03/02/2010 16:44
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What you fail to mention in this snapshot of what was actually said, was that 6 months later, in 2004, the MOD budget was increased by £4billion. Why do you play pick and mix with your reporting instead of telling the complete story? And, of course, Davis Cameron was very selective in his use of the facts in the HoC, as usual. If you check the Defence budget increases since 1997, you will see there has been a massive increase in spending, unlike the cuts the MOD enjoyed year on year under the Tories. Please do tell it like it is and not how you would like it to be. You also failed to mention that at the last election, despite the fact our troops were still in Iraq, it was the Conservative intention to cut the Defence budget by £1.5billion had they won the election.
- Val Daniels, Mijas Costa, Spain, 03/02/2010 16:33
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Mandys very quiet on this one. Probably because the story is true that Brown did in deed cut back spending on the armed forces, which a trawl through the archives will no doubt confirm. The only three saying there were no cuts backs are Tony Blair, his minder, "not one shot will be fired," John Reid and and of Gordon, who looked the most unhappiest of people on the planet in PMQs today. I still think he will bottle his appearance before the Chilcott and go to the country in March - looks even more of a certainty after today. Labour voters may go along with Brown & Co going to war in Iraq, even though it was illegal; but sending squaddies in ill equipped - they won`t like that, one little bit.
- Brian G, Norfolk Gorleston, 03/02/2010 15:52
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