Tories hit out at Labour’s MoD record
THE TORIES attacked the governmen’s record on military spending yesterday as the fall-out from an inquiry into the Iraq War threatened to damage the Labour Party.
Former defence secretary Geoff Hoon told the inquiry that he did not get all the funding he requested in the run-up to the invasion in 2003.
Brown was chancellor for a decade until 2007 and has also faced criticism that he has failed to equip British troops in Afghanistan.
The Conservatives 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,” shadow defence secretary Liam Fox said.
But a Number Ten spokeswoman said: “The prime minister has made it very clear that not only has defence spending increased quite considerably over recent years but also all operational requirements that have been requested by the MoD (Ministry of Defence) have been met.”