Is Gordon Brown 'fiscally illiterate' or was he misleading Parliament?

When Gordon Brown claimed at yesterday's PMQs that "The defence budget has been rising every year…. The only time the defence budget has been cut was in the 10 years before 1997″ was he telling the truth? Cathy Newman at Al Jahom thinks not and has the interesting proof. The whole article is rather instructive as it shows the many tricks that Gordon Brown habitually uses to mislead and obfuscate the truth. Here are a few of the article's findings:

"In real terms – i.e. taking account of inflation – Gordon Brown is wrong.

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The MoD says Gordon Brown wasn’t talking about real terms growth, but was instead referring to “near cash” rises in the defence budget. “Near cash” is the simplest form of the military budget, the most basic cash figure – without inflation or depreciation taken into account.

According to the Institute For Fiscal Studies, inflation has to be factored in to make spending comparisons meaningful. So Brown was at the very least playing fast and loose with the figures by ignoring inflation.

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“If you look at Nato’s figures Gordon Brown’s statement is incorrect,” says Stoker. “Either way, both sets of data indicate that the budget has not risen every year.”

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Defence spending has gone up in “near cash” terms, but it’s fiscally illiterate to use this measure, and the former chancellor knows it."

Please read the whole of Cathy Newman's article and send it to as many people as possible. But also ask yourself this question: if Cathy Newman can uncover the truth so easily, why are the BBC not interested in fact-checking Gordon Brown?