Porkie Brown Lied Over Defence Cuts

Porkie Brown has been forced to admit lying to Chilcot, parliament and the public over defence spending. Brown sauce spin has come to a sticky end, caught out over defence cuts.

A stunned commons watched with disbelief. Faced with a question from a backbench Tory MP over defence spending, the usual mixture of fudge, denials and useless reams of tractor stats were the order of the day.

Instead a humiliated Brown, chancellor during the Iraq war, was forced to admit spending "did not rise in real terms in one or two years".

"PM admits defence spending error" is Brown's BBC way of putting it. Getting caught out lying though his teeth is another.

To cries of liar, liar, pants on fire, Brown had the bare-faced cheek to tell pals at Chilcot's whitewash the defence budget was "rising in real terms every year", denying starving UK armed forces of equipment.

“The only time the defence budget has been cut was in the 10 years before 1997″, Brown even told a disbelieving commons, faced with questions from Cameron only the other week.

But the truth was out. Figures lodged in the commons library told a different story. The budget had in fact been cut in four years. Brown had lost his wiggle room. Now forced to admit he misled the House and Chilcot over defence spending.

Credit should go to Channel 4 News' Cathy Newman who poured over unearthed new figures after prising out the truth in an FoI request.

Newman reached the cold conclusion: "FactCheck has established that Gordon Brown’s central claim that the defence budget has gone up every year is fiction."

Even the Tory leader was in a state of shock, saying it was the first time in three years he had heard Brown "make a correction or a retraction".

With a masterstroke of spin, Brown had managed to duck the election bogeyman of a Chilcot grilling over starving forces of funds. Insisting that there had been no defence cuts flew in the face of contrary evidence from practically everyone expect his band of New Labour cronies.

Coming under fire from former armed forces chiefs, his own ex-defence secretary, Hoon, and his top MoD official at the time, Tebbit, who told how Brown "guillotined" military spending six months after the invasion.

Even a coroner's verdict and damning public slating of the funding shortfalls came just days after Porkie Brown insisted 'troops had all the equipment they needed'.

Hand-picked Chilcot placemen, working to a tight Downing Street remit with plenty of wiggle room had allowed Brown to get away with murder, despite the massed weight of evidence against him.

Misleading parliament and the public. Telling big Brown lies to Chilcot. The least that should happen is for Porkie Brown to be forced to make a return trip to Chilcot or face commons censure.

But fresh calls for Brown to come clean and face the music will fall on deaf ears, with Chilcot and parliament set to enter purdah this side of the election.

What is left is the disgrace of a discredited prime minister. A dab hand at ducking responsibility. Now no longer allowed to get away droning on with endless denials to fudge the facts in the dying days of his fag-end government.

UPDATE 10.50pm: Cameron says Brown "misled" the Chilcot inquiry and parliament. Political code for lying. After burying the story down bulletin on its 6pm TV News, the BBC finally led with it at 10pm.

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Brown Gets Away With Troop Murder

Fresh calls for Brown to come clean and face the music at the Chilcot whitewash over a woeful lack of troop equipment and kit is set to fall on deaf ears. Brown got away with murder the first time around.

Chilcot has played into the hands of the spinners with no chance of a recall this side of the election.

With a masterstroke of timing, Brown has managed to duck the election bogeyman of a Chilcot grilling over starving forces of funds, despite a damning inquest verdict into the deaths of soldiers in Snatch coffins which happened on his watch.

The 'unlawful killings' verdict on the deaths in 2008 came just a week too late for Brown to be held to account. An appearance this week and he would have been forced into a corner with some harsh questioning.

Instead the canny politician with a dab hand at ducking responsibility was allowed to drone on with denials, reeling off meaningless tractor stats to fudge the facts.

Insisting that no request for new kit had ever been turned down during his time as chancellor or at No 10, flies in the face of contrary evidence from practically everyone expect his band of New Labour cronies.

Chilcot witnesses, including ex-defence secretary, Hoon, have accused the treasury of 'penny-pinching' over the Iraq war. Ex-top MoD civil servant, Tebbit, told how Brown "guillotined" military spending six months after the invasion.

Even the might of The Times and Telegraph making a splash with ex-army chiefs gunning for Brown made no difference. No sooner had he left Chilcot than Brown was facing demands to reappear after his top MoD official, flatly contradicted claims to have always supported troops.

Brown, said Jeffrey, forced the military to make 'cuts' leaving them 'very stretched indeed' because he did not give them enough money.

And to top it all, Brown's appearance came as an inquest into the deaths in a Snatch was hearing how troops believed vehicles were unsuitable but were told to make do.

The coroner at an inquest into the deaths of four soldiers in a blast in Afghanistan made it clear the deaths highlighted the problems of the Snatch Land Rover.

Even back in 2008, The Times was reporting how the military blocked replacing Snatch Land Rovers with safer vehicles because no extra funding for the vehicles was provided by the treasury.

The MoD was left struggling to fund the vehicles from its overstretched budget.

The inquest heard that the soldiers' commander had requested a replacement for their Snatch Land Rover but was refused because of equipment shortages. Soldiers had not been shown how to use metal detectors in the UK because of an equipment shortage.

The coroner's verdict and damning public slating of the funding shortfalls coming just days after the prime minister insisted 'troops had all the equipment they needed'.

But Brown has been allowed to get way with murder in front of his Chilcot stooges, droning on for hours with denials and fudge. And what does he do? Skip off to Afghanistan for a sickening photo-ops and Brown PR stunt.

Hand-picked Chilcot placemen, working to a tight Downing Street remit with plenty of wiggle room. Brown getting away with murder, despite the massed weight of evidence against him. An inquiry about to enter a period of pre-election purdah so there's no chance of a Brown recall this side of the election.

All part of the disgrace of the pre-election plan to prevent the shame of underfunded troops sent to their deaths in the killing fields becoming a hot election issue.

Cameron may have something to say about this at today's PMQs, if Ducking Brown decides to turn up.

UPDATE 1.55pm: Cameron finally showed some fire in his belly rounding on Brown over the inquest verdict and his Chilcot 'evidence' at PMQs. Brown's feeble response was to shout 'Ashcroft'. Pathetic.

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Brown Wipes Blood Off Hands For Chilcot

Penny-pinching Brown comes under the starry-eyed gaze of the Iraq stitch-up as families demand to know why loved ones were sent to their deaths without proper equipment. Brown is set to snuggle up to Chilcot pals with denial written on his face and blood on his hands.

Warmongering Blair faced stage-managed Chilcot sham trials with smiles and "no regrets". No-one is taken in by Brown's grin after stitching up Chilcot with his placemen.

But families hoping the Chilcot whitewash will grill Brown are set to be disappointed. The canny politician is a dab hand at ducking responsibility, droning on with denials and reeling off meaningless tractor stats to fudge the facts.

Bunkered Brown has been forced to come out of hiding gambling he's nothing to lose this side of the election. Families expecting a last chance to hear the truth about the worst foreign policy disaster in recent times will be faced with a dodgy attempt to rewrite history.

But Brown cannot escape being a top member of Blair's war cabinet who helped push through the war. Going along with the plan to dupe parliament and people over an illegal war on the back of a pack of lies. And as chancellor he held the purse strings, holding back vital cash for equipment and kit for a war which happened on his treasury watch.

Whilst Blair was busy preparing to join pal Bush in Iraq, Brown was busy slashing the defence budget and starving the armed forces of funds.

Chilcot witnesses, including ex-defence secretary, Hoon, have accused the treasury of 'penny-pinching' over the Iraq war. Ex-top MoD civil servant, Tebbit, told how Brown "guillotined" military spending six months after the invasion.

Equipment shortages forced on the military as well as useless kit, such as the Snatch Land Rover dubbed “mobile coffins”, were a direct result of budget cuts. Troops were sent to war without enough transport helicopters, driven around in Land Rovers vulnerable to roadside bombs and suicide bomb attacks.

Time and again inquests have heard the sorry plight of troops sent to their deaths with a woeful lack of kit and equipment. This week an inquest into the deaths in a Snatch heard how troops believed vehicles were unsuitable but were told to make do.

The Times and Telegraph make a splash with ex-army chiefs gunning for Brown. Ex-defence chief, Guthrie, tells The Times a failure to properly fund the armed forces while Brown was chancellor has "undoubtedly cost the lives of soldiers."

The Telegraph reveals former special forces chief, Lamb, has warned the SAS are inadequately equipped with only basic equipment due to underfunding.

Thirty-six servicemen and one servicewoman were killed while on patrol in Snatch Land Rovers. Now families of troops killed in poorly protected Land Rovers are urging the Iraq inquiry to challenge Brown on his funding.

Why did Brown jeopardise soldiers’ lives by cutting funding and forcing them to travel in the unsuitable vehicles? Why were frontline soldiers' complaints not acted on?

Hand-picked Chilcot stooges, working to a tight Downing Street remit with plenty of wiggle room, say that the purpose of the inquiry is 'not to apportion blame'. But the more deception, lies, incompetence and dishonesty is revealed, the clearer it becomes that someone must be held accountable for the tragic number of avoidable deaths.

Sickening photo-ops of Brown PR stunts with troops are hard to stomach. Families deserve better than the sham of a Chilcot whitewash and the weasel words of a penny-pinching chancellor. It was Brown who supported the illegal war with one bloody hand while slashing the defence budget with the other.

The families of the dead have a right to the truth about an illegal war fought in their name. It is the verdict of those families on Brown's performance which will be most telling.

The deaths of all soldiers and civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan is as much on the conscience of Brown as it is on Blair. Both are left with blood on their hands. Voters will now decide whether to back Brown's morally criminal government which put cheap politics above the safety of the armed forces.

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Dog Eat Dog In Dodgy Non-Dom Land

Attack dogs have been unleashed in the dog eat dog world of dodgy non-doms, fighting it out like ferrets in a sack after 'Cashcroft' finally came clean. Filthy rich figures bankrolling political parties while hiding behind dodgy non-dom tax status. What's new? But blistering attacks could backfire with both parties to blame and in the firing line.

The feeding frenzy over Ashcroft's tax status and the 'non-dom' attack line is so blatant it is almost laughable. New Labour had found a chink in the Tory armour, flogging rich Ashcroft for all he's worth. Tories mounted a forlorn fight-back claiming non-dom Paul is bankrolling New Labour.

New Labour had a field day taking the Michael out of Tory Ashcroft while getting away with its own dirty little secrets, including 'Garbagegate' steel magnate Lakashmi Mittal and Brown's bunging pal, Swarj Paul.

The pressure is relentless and the stakes are high. The issue of a 'non-dom' - any non-dom - bankrolling a political party - any political party - is a disgrace which has to be stamped out.

Ashcroft today came clean about his non-dom status after promising to "strike back at smears" with a letter giving the BBC's Robinson a chance to milk it for all it's worth.

But 'Cashcroft's' non-dom admission gave Tories a chance to hit back with Paul and Mittal. Paul? Ashcroft? Bores the pants off voters. All as bad as each other. Maybe they will cancel out and fizzle out as electioneering attack lines.

Last year the Observer revealed New Labour "quietly postponed a law to stop wealthy tax exiles bankrolling political parties until after a general election."

That prompted accusations the government has "nobbled" parliament. Now the law is finally due to change to make life difficult for non-doms to grease the palm and election pots of their favourite party? How convenient.

After thirteen years in power and weeks from a general election, the government is to finally close the sable door after the horses have bolted to Belize.

Key New Labour donors such as Paul and Mittal as well as Tory donor Ashcroft will have been able to pump millions of pounds into the election campaign.

The Orange Party is bemused. Squirrelling away wads of cash in the Caymans to trip up the taxman is a disgrace. But Lords a-leaping into bed with a political party is nothing new.

Brown's pal and leadership campaign bankroller, Paul, is no stranger to Sunday Times readers, reported to have handed over £400,000 to the Party.

Last year The Times exposed the legal loophole of Paul's non-dom status for tax purposes allowing him to avoid most UK taxes. And Paul was forced to stand down as deputy Lords speaker while officials rummaged through his expenses claims.

Wealthy tax exile Mittal, one of the richest people on the planet at the centre of the 'cash for influence' Garbagegate scandal during the Blair years, has donated more than £2m to New Labour coffers.

Not to be outdone, even LibDems have been bankrolled by non-dom Choudhrie brothers. Bless.

Helping to keep the Tory ship afloat, Ashcroft, has come under the spotlight of that Labour-loving organ the Telegraph, as well the Guardian, Indy, et Big Al. But donating around £4m to 'Cameron's conservatives' out of a cash-rich Tory warchest of around £90m is kinda peanuts coming in at 4.6 percent.

Earlier this month the Orange Party asked why parties were so prickly about 'Paul Ashcroft', wondering whether the day would ever come when the parties would fight it out below the belt and above the fold with headline grabbing 'Ashcroft in tax scandal' in one newspaper and 'Paul in tax scandal' in another.

Even Bunkered Brown is joining the dodgy non-doms, skiving off school again with a lame excuse, dodging democracy and a commons PMQs grilling.

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Spinners Try To Batten Down Bullygate

Brown sauce spinners are trying to keep a lid on Bullygate with botched-up blundering over 'Bully Boy' Brown and an anti-bullying boss bullied by Brown's bidders, after blistering bombshells blew up the Bunker.

Downing Street had weeks to set up lines of defence after a carefully planted spoiler in the Mos to steal Rawnsley's thunder, with claims 'Bully Boy' Brown bashed people around. Easy-peasy to deny.

Only Rawnsley made no such claims in his aptly named new book The End of the Party, sensationally serialised in the Observer.

Publishers had kept the best bit under wraps. Instead it was Rawnsley's shocking revelation over the civil service head honcho's "own investigations" giving "a verbal warning" to Bullying Brown which knocked the wind out of their sails.

Spinning like a top, denials of a "formal investigation" came thick and fast. Only Rawnsley never claimed such a formal investigation has been made.

Ministers waited on Mandy for the line to take, eventually trotted out to try to kill the story stone dead. Bully for them.

But the damage had been done. Downing Street denials were too much for anti-bullying boss, Pratt, who spilled the beans to the BBC claiming Brown staff had contacted her 'National Bullying Helpline' for an anxious helpful chat.

The lid had blown off the 24 hour news cycle and Tucker's first rule of news management blown out of the water. Bullygate had crossed over to Monday with a Thundering bang and a scorcher from sibling Sun.

Desperate bids to paint Pratt as a Tory plant over Conservative endorsements of the anti-bullying helpline didn't stand up. The charity is backed by Mandy's department. Whoops.

Relentless stooge smears continued. Brown's bag carrier PPS Snelgrove was wheeled out to stick up for her boss.

Dirty tricks or what. Isn't this the same Snelgrove well-known for her 'unflagging loyalty to government ministers'? Praising Prescott to the hilt after his diary secretary affair and earning her Private Eye's "OBN" (Order of the Brown Nose). Yup.

It seems Snelgrove has history with Pratt but fell out after a spat. Time to try another line from the pages of Damage Limitation Weakly.

Try on a 'breach of confidentiality' to shut her up. An email whacked off by Brown's disgraced ex-home secretary Smith should do the trick. Only it didn't. The boss of an anti-bullying charity was not going to be bullied. Pratt was not going to live up to her name, having none of it on the Today prog.

In a last ditch bid at damage limitation, one of the anti-bullying helpline 'patrons', prof Cary Cooper, quit over claims of a breach of confidentiality. Which is strange because Pratt had not and would not finger anyone by name.

Is this the same prof Cooper who headed up the Sunningdale Institute of the National School of Government, a non-ministerial department of, er, the government, with the head of the civil service as president? A quango crony. Shurley shome mishtake.

And to cap it all, some New Labour luvvies had the gall to suggest the Brown example of workplace bullying is nothing to get upset about.

Under the government's own anti-bullying legislation, the employer - the head of the civil service - would be expected to at least follow the rules with due process to get to the bottom of it all. But unlike in the real workplace such a move falls on Downing Street deaf ears.

What a tangled web they weave. And it all could have been avoided if Bottling Brown had used his Big Day on Saturday to fire the election starting gun, popping in to see Her Maj on Monday.

But McPoison runs in the blood of Downing Street spinners. The old reservoir dog refuses to lie down and die.

Now Tories can go on the attack repeating previous backbench claims of a bullying cover-up. Cameron can breeze in with calls for a full blown bullying inquiry.

Too much spinning. Too much Bullygate bullying. Not much common sense.

Top picture: Morten Morland, The Times

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Battlelines Drawn Over 'Bully Boy' Brown

Battlelines have been drawn over the latest shock allegations levelled at 'Bully Boy' Brown, with the Downing Street damage limitation spinning machine fired up in full denial mode. Bullygate has gone global from the US to Oz. Rawnsley's revelations have hit a raw nerve.

The media is talking up the cronies or taking up the cudgels. But denials will make no difference. With such shocking revelations once again splashed across the international media, there's no denying the damage has been done.

Brown's BBC was up and running yesterday with a Brown denial lifted from a Channel 4 News interview spoiling Brown Big Day well before the Observer had fired the starting gun for Rawnsley's sensational serialisation.

Telling Channel 4 News: "I have never hit anybody in my life," Brown denied accusations that had not been made. Damaging allegations must have hit a raw nerve if Brown is forced to deny something before anything is splashed across the Sundays.

Not to be outgunned, the MoS was up and running with Brown 'ordered to curb volcanic temper' after he was accused of abusing Downing Street staff. The IoS was left floundering and falling back on its tired formula - if you've nothing new to say - stick up big Brown sauce.

If Rawnsley was alone with these sort of allegations then some could discount them. But he isn't. No.10 spinners are pulling out the stops to kill the story which means it must have a ring of truth.

The bombshells, some reported by the MoS spoiler a few weeks ago, feature in Rawnsley's new book The End Of The Party. Downing Street aides have been well aware for some time that the Observer was set to publish an extract from Rawnsley's book.

But at the time of writing, no one has been lined up to say what a nice gentle kind of chap he is to have around the office.

Most damning and damaging is Rawnsley's claim that Brown received an unprecedented reprimand from the civil service head honcho for abusive behaviour to staff along with explosive disclosures about Brown's violent and volcanic outbursts.

The country's top civil servant ordered Brown to 'curb your volcanic temper' after investigating allegations of bullying by Brown. According to Rawnsley in the Observer:

"The cabinet secretary, became so alarmed by the prime minister’s behaviour that he launched his own investigations when he received reports of Brown’s bullying of staff. O’Donnell then gave the prime minister a stern “pep talk” and ordered him to change his behaviour."

Some of Rawnsley's revelations had been teased in the MoS with a carefully planted spoiler weeks ago as part of a deliberate Downing Street ploy to weaken the impact of the allegations. But such a reprimand from the civil service head is unheard of and wasn't in the MoS spoiler.

Rawnsley claims "absolutely impeccable sources". And, according to Rawnsley, Labour MP Stephen Pound confirmed to Sky News that O'Donnell warned Brown about his behaviour.

Brown's foul behaviour and temper tantrums come as no surprise to Brown watchers. He even looks like a nasty piece of work. But to trigger a warning from Whitehall’s most powerful official begs the questions whether Brown is fit for office as a general election draws near. Do voters want this guy to run the country for another five years?

An explosive account by Watt and an explosive account by Price. Now an explosive account by Rawnsley. Keep well away from the bunker, it's about to explode.

Charges of betrayal against ex-Downing Street insider, Price or Labour chief, Watt with an axe to grind, cannot be levelled at Rawnsley.

Rawnsley is a respected political journalist on the right side of New Labour with years of experience under his belt - which makes his account all the more devastating.

Is everyone else so wrong and only the indignant one right? There are too many 'bullying' stories flying around.

Rawnsley's account is a suitable epitaph to the rise and fall of New Labour and the final nail in the coffin of 'Bully Boy' Brown, leading the pack of the Downing Street reservoir dogs.

UPDATE 6.19pm: The BBC reports that several people in Brown's office had "called a bullying helpline", according to the boss of an anti-bullying charity.

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