Morning Gordon, Lord Guthrie this end

Before we move on to the main business of the morning we should pay attention to what Lord Guthrie, former Chief of the Defence Staff, has to say in an interview in the Times.  He is not happy.

On the lack of resources:

Peter Mandelson said this week he was convinced that no one had been killed through lack of helicopters - well I don’t believe that’s so. And when Alistair Darling says we will give the army everything it asks for, that is patently not true.

In defence of Dannatt:

He’s got to the end of his tether, it’s all very well saying he’s got to be loyal to the Government but he’s also got to be loyal to the people who work for him.”

On Brown:

….has never “cared” about the armed forces. He said to me once: 'you don’t think I understand defence, do you?’ I said ‘no you don’t'.

When we could have made a decent investment we didn’t. Gordon Brown focused on health and education rather than defence. That means we’re not prepared.

When Mr Brown was at the Treasury, Lord Guthrie says, he was the only Cabinet minister who refused to attend briefings with the top brass. “I was very upset that he wouldn’t come and hear our side. The only time he did was to talk about the future of Rothsyth docks in his constituency.”

This is not some bitter old general sounding off because he is nothing better to do.  Guthrie won the war in Kosovo and had much to do with New Labour in the early days.  His views matter.

We can expect more of this during the summer, especially when Dannatt is free to talk at the end of August.  As I have discussed before, Afghanistan could well be a huge contributory factor in bringing the Brown premiership to an end.