Gordon Brown on the ropes

Published on Wednesday 17 March 2010 21:43

A HUMILIATING admission that he misled the country over defence spending topped a black day for Gordon Brown yesterday.

• Gordon Brown at a St Patrick's Day reception at the House of Lords yesterday. In the Commons, he suffered a bruising session at Prime Minister's Questions. Picture: PA

In a major blow to his personal credibility, the Prime Minister was forced to concede that he misled the official inquiry into the Iraq war by insisting the defence budget had risen in real terms every year under Labour.

It vindicated military chiefs, who had accused the Prime Minister of being "disingenuous" in his evidence to the Chilcot hearing this month.

Mr Brown was also left floundering when faced with Commons questions about the influence of the Unite union on him and his party.

Four times he refused to join Conservative leader David Cameron in publicly backing employees who "bravely" crossed the Unite picket line this coming weekend to keep British Airways services going.

In addition, there was new evidence that his strategy for leading Britain on the road to economic recovery was not working. While official data revealed that unemployment had fallen, it also showed the number of jobs in the UK had dropped in the latest quarter by 54,000.

And, in a well-trailed report, the European Commission claimed Britain's credit rating was in peril because of the absence of a clear strategy to tackle the national debt.

It said proposed cuts of some 19 billion had to be more than doubled to 39bn in the Budget, an assessment dismissed by ministers as being too damaging for the economy.

On top of all that, there was a damning report by the National Audit Office on a 780 million reorganisation of UK government departments, which had been signed off by Mr Brown.

He even faced questions linking him with the disgraced former Glasgow City Council leader, Steven Purcell.

During Prime Minister's Questions, SNP Westminster leader Angus Robertson asked Mr Brown whether he knew about Mr Purcell's problems prior to his resignation.

Labour later dismissed any suggestion the Prime Minister had prior knowledge of the scandal, and the SNP was accused of trying to "smear Gordon Brown".

Glasgow North West Labour MP John Robertson described the attack as "disgusting" and said it was made because the SNP was "anti-Glasgow".

But most damaging was the admission by Mr Brown that he had not told the complete truth to the Chilcot inquiry about defence spending.

Instead of a real-terms increase every year, the defence budget had fallen in three separate years when he was in the government.

There was a moment of audible shock in parliament when the Prime Minister admitted his mistake and confirmed that he would be writing to the Chilcot inquiry to correct it.

Mr Cameron thanked the Prime Minister for "at last admitting his mistake".

However, it left unanswered questions about whether Mr Brown knew at the time that he was misleading the inquiry.

After his evidence, three retired military chiefs – Admiral Lord Boyce and Generals Lord Guthrie and Sir Richard Dannatt – accused Mr Brown of being "disingenuous" and of "dissembling", stating that they had been forced to deal with cuts that left them short of equipment.

But a spokesman for the Prime Minister insisted Mr Brown had "nothing to hide".

Asked why the PM had not spoken out at Question Time last week, the spokesman said he had not been asked about the matter directly, as he had been yesterday.

He went on: "I don't think the Prime Minister has ever had anything to hide on this. There are a number of reasons why it made sense for the Prime Minister to address the House in the way he has done.

"He has done it at the time that he thinks is appropriate."

Last night, a spokesman for the Iraq inquiry confirmed a letter had been received from Mr Brown, which would be published on the inquiry's website.

He said: "The letter provides a detailed explanation of the difference between the defence budget and defence expenditure, and how those totals have changed year on year in real terms, which the inquiry will take into account in its future deliberations."

The main topic of Prime Minister's Question Time yesterday was Mr Brown's handling of the British Airways dispute – and the role of Unite, which has provided some 11m of funding for Labour since he became leader.

Mr Cameron pointed out that, by ignoring the strike, some employees could potentially save a major company from collapse, as well as stopping flights being cancelled. And he accused Mr Brown of doing nothing because of Unite.

The Prime Minister insisted he had spoken to both sides, and tried to come back at Mr Cameron by quoting from an article that claimed the Conservatives were putting their former hostilities with the unions behind them. But his main line of defence against the demand that he back strikebreakers was "regretting" that his opponent had brought "partisan politics to an industrial dispute".

Last night, Charlie Whelan, the political director of Unite and a close friend of Mr Brown – he used to be the former chancellor's press secretary – defended the Prime Minister and accused the Tories of conducting a "witch hunt".

Related articles:

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Gordon Brown refuses to support the strikebreakers in BA dispute

PM 'clarifies' evidence to Chilcot and admits defence spending fell over several years, as top brass claimed

Gordon Brown linked to Steven Purcell's fall