Defence Secretary Des Browne was kept in the dark about the Prime Minister's announcement to withdraw 1,000 British troops from Iraq. Gordon Brown discussed general defence matters with the Minister on the eve of his visit to Basra last week. But he did not say a word about his announcement – made, significantly, in the middle of the Tory Party conference. The snub is said by senior defence sources to have left Mr Browne so angry he went to ground for the rest of the week. Senior defence sources confirmed Mr Browne had believed the former Chancellor – whom he served as a junior Minister at the Treasury – would make the troops announcement in the Commons tomorrow as he had originally planned.
After the Prime Minister jumped the gun, Mr Browne went AWOL and pulled out of a visit to an RAF station last Wednesday – the day after the Prime Minister's announcement – in order to avoid questions about the withdrawal. He ordered
his junior Defence Equipment Minister Lord Drayson to attend. Mr Browne had been invited to welcome six new Merlin helicopters at RAF Benson in Oxfordshire. Later the same day, Mr Browne rejected an interview request from BBC2's Newsnight. Presenter Jeremy Paxman savaged his replacement, Armed Forces Minister Bob Ainsworth, after he denied Tory allegations the PM had been guilty of 'cynical politics' by timing his remarks to coincide with the defence debate in Blackpool. The embarrassment for Labour became more acute when it emerged the statement was a sham, because 500 of the 5,500 soldiers in Iraq had already returned to the UK and a further 500 were due home by Christmas anyway.Shadow Defence Secretary Dr Liam Fox said: 'It confirms what everyone expected, that this was a No 10 publicity stunt.' TheMoDsaid: 'The Defence Secretary talks to
the PM very frequently about Iraq as well as wider defence matters – including on the eve of the visit – and was aware of the PM's intention to announce a reduction in troop levels in Iraq.' A Downing Street spokesman said: 'We have nothing to add.'
If this is true, it is not only startling, but shows that Gordon Brown is unfit to be PM. And if Des Browne had anything about him, he'd resign. I trust someone will raise this in the House of Commons tomorrow.
11 comments:
A labour minister resign on a principle ha ha i think not,Badger spotting maybe financial iregularity(fraud mandy) maybe but principle never.They dont do honour or truth.
More evidence of Brown's sheer bloody incompetence. Why not tell Des what he was going to say? Why risk antagonising one of your team for no good reason?
"Gordon Brown is unfit to be PM. And if Des Browne had anything about him, he'd resign"
Oh come on Iain, it's a Labour Minister you're talking about!
Give-up the ministerial salary, the perks and consign himself to the back-benches with unrelenting hostility from the Brownies. No one in this government is capable of such an honourable decision.
Was I looking at a piece of archive footage last week because I could have sworn that I saw Des Browne get off the plane that brought Brown to Iraq to make his ill-fated announcement?
If Des was there it means that he sat on plane for four or five hours with Gordon and they did not discuss what the PM was going to say. Amazing!
Diablo, which is even more amazing considering what Ruth Kelly said on Question Time. Apparently Gordon needed the plane journey to discuss things with people that he couldn't possible do here.
We talk about this sort of thing being known as spin, but doesn't it actually constitute lying? When Kelly goes on QT saying Gordon needed to see things for himself, and needed the time on the plane etc, that's just all a big fat lie. It's not spinning - it's plain lying...
david (11.08pm) - I saw Kelly too. She really floundered. As did Hazel Blears, Harriet Harman et al on the MSM today when they all made attempts to spin - sorry, lie - their way out of Brown's descent into the lowest of low politics.
Cameron, on the other hand, still stands head and shoulders above Brown.
Look forward to the next long week in politics!
Is Brown becoming a Dictator? He is still running the country's finances with Darling as a front man. Now he seems to think he can run defence as well. Mind you, Browne is only part time, maybe it's some kind of job share scheme that Gordon is running.
Brown should have come on stage for the Labour party conference to the song: I'm a one man band.....
diablo
you forgot about our Home Secretary, who was like a rabbit caught in the headlights in the face of Adam Boulton's questioning.
ps where's the boy wonder Miliband been hiding these past few days?
NewLabour ministers in general don't resign on principle because they will never be able to earn an equivalent post on merit anywhere else and they put their pensions and ministerial cars first.
For many Conservatives working in parliament and when in government as a minister represents a loss in earning potential and is service. For many New Labour MPs its the best job they are ever going to get.
Resign (or call an election ;-) )? They are too selfish to put country before bank balance and fragile ego.
Des Browne has nothing 'about him' - apart from the stench of moral cowardice.
What is perhaps just as serious is Gordon Brown insistence on having a private mobile phone - see link here from the Times online.
I assume he can give authority to launch Nuclear missiles. He also promised to reintroduce the proper running of government and give the civil service respect. But he is now bypassing both in a way that is at least a damage to the correct conduct of government and at worse a threat to national security.
Perhaps he also doesn't want some records kept - think cash for peerages.
Post a Comment