Brown, trying to win elections rather than wars

The more I look at the government's defence cuts the more angry I get.

We have not had a proper Strategic Defence Review for over a decade and the world has changed quite a bit since then. Our forces are being asked to operate well outside the SDR planning assumptions and the childishly optimistic political assumptions about the campaign in Afghanistan added to the pressure on our troops and their equipment.

The government have consistently failed to grasp the scale or complexity of the tasks that they have given our troops. The drip feed of resources has left our troops exposed and has cost lives. All these things have been well documented on this blog and in other places.

But now Labour has added their final and deepest insult to the forces who serve on our behalf. During the last few years it has become clear that not only had the government failed to plan militarily but also financially. The cuts to existing and future programs to pay for additional helicopters is an admission of failure more eloquent than anything which might have been said at the dispatch box.

The truly sickening thing about this is that the Chinooks will not be available for years. Had Gordon Brown not cut £1.4bn from the helicopter programme in 2004 they would be in theatre at the moment.

I cannot help but think that this poorly thought through plan is more to do with winning elections than winning wars.