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LONDON, Jan. 19th (Reuters) - Britain's opposition Conservatives attacked the government's record on defense spending on Tuesday as the fall-out from an inquiry into the Iraq War threatened to damage the ruling Labor Party.
Former Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon, who led an abortive party revolt against Prime Minister Gordon Brown this month, told the inquiry that he did not get all the funding he requested in the run-up to the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.
Brown was finance minister for a decade until 2007 and has also faced criticism that he has failed to equip British troops in Afghanistan properly.
He will not appear before the inquiry until after a general election due by June. His spokeswoman defended his actions.
"The prime minister has made it very clear that not only has defense spending increased quite considerably over recent years but also all operational requirements that have been requested by the MoD (Ministry of Defense) have been met," a spokeswoman for the prime minister said.
The Conservatives, favorites to win the election after 13 years in the political wilderness, accused Brown of short-changing the armed forces and said this had hampered the campaign in Afghanistan.
"We could have had more helicopters in Afghanistan today if the Treasury had not ignored requests from military commanders," opposition Defense spokesman Liam Fox said.
"This has been a litany of bad decisions and represents a collective failure of government where the ultimate victims were the servicemen and women of the armed forces," he added.
Two hundred and forty seven British soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan and the rising death toll will be an issue in the election campaign.
BROWN SET UP INQUIRY
Brown set up the Iraq inquiry last year to draw lessons from the conflict following the withdrawal of British troops from Iraq. Some Labor figures say it risks backfiring by bringing a divisive issue back into the public arena.
Many Labor supporters remain angry with former Prime Minister Tony Blair for leading the country into a war and occupation in which 179 British soldiers were killed.
