Menzies Campbell attacks Brown's credibility on war

Published on Saturday 6 March 2010 22:34

SIR Menzies Campbell today adds to the criticism of Gordon Brown over his funding of the Iraq war, saying his claim that he had always given military chiefs everything they asked for lacked credibility.

In the Scotland on Sunday lecture at the Scottish Lib Dem conference, Campbell will argue that the Chilcot Inquiry has served its purpose by highlighting the flaws in the political system which allowed Britain to enter "an illegal war".

The former Lib Dem leader goes on to attack the Prime Minister, saying that "like Admiral Lord Nelson", he chose to "see only the signs he wanted to see" during the run-up to war, in order to exonerate himself.

Campbell's lecture, the latest in a series sponsored by this newspaper and Fleishman Hillard, focuses on the Chilcot Inquiry, which Brown attended last Friday.

During that appearance, Brown insisted he had never turned the armed forces down for more money, when he was chancellor. That claim has since been disputed by former armed forces chiefs.

Campbell says: "Who do you accept? Three former chiefs of defence of staff, the former defence secretary, the most senior civil servant in the MoD at the time, or the Prime Minister?"

He adds: "Better perhaps to ask the soldiers on the ground, who had to endure inadequate body armour and a shortage of helicopters."