Print
Feb. 3 (BBC News) - Gordon Brown has denied troops were sent to Iraq and Afghanistan without the equipment they needed after being accused of "guillotining" the budget.
In angry Commons exchanges, Tory leader David Cameron picked up on the claim from ex-MOD mandarin Sir Kevin Tebbit to the UK's inquiry into the Iraq war.
Mr Cameron said the PM ignored forces' welfare until it became "politically convenient to do otherwise".
But Mr Brown said defence spending had risen to meet the challenge.
He said it was not fair to troops in Afghanistan to suggest otherwise, adding: "They are properly equipped for the job they are doing."
The clash came minutes before Defence Secretary Bob Ainsworth began making a Commons statement on the strategic defence review.
Mr Cameron said: "Isn't it becoming clear from the Chilcot inquiry that the government in general, and you in particular, made a series of bad decisions that meant our armed forces were not equipped properly when they were sent into harm's way?"
As Labour backbenchers furiously heckled the Conservative leader, Mr Brown replied: "I will welcome the opportunity to speak to the Chilcot inquiry.
"But you must know that defense spending rose every year and it was the fastest rises for 20 years - and that Iraq and Afghanistan received £14bn from the contingency reserve to enable the fighting there to take place.
"Not only did we prepare the Army, Navy and Air Forces with proper funding, but we also funded every urgent operational requirement that was made.
"I don't believe it is in the interests of this House to tell people that when funding was provided they were not properly equipped."
Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg also seized on Sir Kevin Tebbit's evidence to the Chilcot inquiry, using it to lambast the government over its commitment to replacing Trident nuclear weapons.
He said: "We've got troops in battle without proper equipment, 'guillotined' defense budgets and a world which has changed out of all recognition since the Cold War.
"Yet you want to spend billions of pounds of taxpayers' money replacing and renewing a nuclear missile system designed to flatten Moscow at the touch of a button.
"How are we going to face the threats this country faces, if government thinking is so stuck in the past?"
On Wednesday morning, the Chilcot inquiry was told that Mr Brown, when chancellor, had insisted on a "complete guillotine" of defence spending in December 2003 - just nine months after the invasion of Iraq was launched.
Former Ministry of Defence permanent secretary Sir Kevin Tebbit called the £1bn cut "arbitrary".
Read more...
