Gordon Brown accused of evading the real questions at Chilcot and contradicting Geoff Hoon and others on defence spending

Gordon Brown spent most of today giving evidence to the Chilcot Inquiry.

Shadow defence secretary Liam Fox was following him closely and has just released the following statement suggesting that there are significant contradictions between his claims and those of others Cabinet ministers, senior civil servants and army officers:

“Gordon Brown was a member of the inner circle, but true to form he didn’t want to take any responsibility for decisions which had negative consequences. He admitted that planning for the war was deficient, but with typical weasel words he tried to pin the blame on everyone else, above all the Americans. The Prime Minister put on a typically evasive performance, answering the questions he wanted to hear, rather than the questions which were put to him.

“There are still contradictions between what Gordon Brown said about defence spending, and what Geoff Hoon, Lord Walker, Lord Guthrie and Sir Kevin Tebbit have said. There have been consistent allegations that the 1998 SDR was underfunded, which were not addressed. There have been consistent allegations that, as Chancellor, Gordon Brown was so unsympathetic to the Armed Forces that he denied them what they needed for what the Government asked of them. Something does not add up here.”

Jonathan Isaby