'Mr Brown had been "disingenuous"'

Even the BBC are forced to report that:

"Two former heads of the armed forces have strongly challenged Gordon Brown's evidence to the Iraq war inquiry.

The prime minister, who was chancellor when the war began, said the military had been given everything it asked for.

But Lord Guthrie, ex-chief of the defence staff, said in the Daily Telegraph that armed forces had been denied a request for more helicopters.

His successor, Lord Boyce, told the Times Mr Brown had been "disingenuous", but No 10 rejected the criticisms.

Downing Street insisted that Mr Brown could not have been clearer in his response to questions about military funding.

It also repeated his statement that no request for equipment had ever been turned down.

Lord Guthrie, who held his post from 1997 to 2001, said the Ministry of Defence "received the bare minimum from the chancellor, who wanted to give the military as little as he could get away with".

He said: "The whole defence budget was extremely difficult to run in his time.

"For Gordon Brown to say he has given the military all they asked for is not true.

"They asked for more helicopters but they were told they could not have any more."

Lord Guthrie added: "He cannot get away with saying 'I gave them everything they asked for'. That is simply disingenuous."

Lord Boyce, who was chief of the Defence Staff up to the beginning of the invasion of Iraq in 2003, said: "He's dissembling, he's being disingenuous. It's just not the case that the Ministry of Defence was given everything it needed".

"There may have been a 1.5 per cent increase in the defence budget but the MoD was starved of funds." "

"disingenuous", "For Gordon Brown to say he has given the military all they asked for is not true.". I can hardly believe that anyone doubts that Gordon 'fearty' Brown has once again been economical with the truth. Just as a leopard cannot change its spots, so Gordon Brown cannot change his disingenuous nature.