David Cameron was last night accused of contemplating the kind of “dodgy” accounting that would put company executives in prison in his desire to inflate Britain’s defence budget.
Air Chief Marshal Lord Stirrup, the prime minister’s former chief military adviser, said any attempt to use money spent on Britain’s spy agencies to meet a Nato target would be an “outrageous” move.
Nato also dealt a blow to any hope that Mr Cameron could tap the resources of his intelligence agencies to boost the defence budget, saying that such funding could not be included.
The comments came as it emerged that Mr Cameron has not asked the Liberal Democrats to agree to any new money for defence in next week’s budget despite Tory anger at the prospect of Britain falling below the critical Nato threshold of spending at least 2 per cent of national income.
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The coalition agreed to increase health spending ahead of last year’s autumn statement after pressure. Mr Cameron has not asked Nick Clegg for a similar commitment to head off the Tory rebellion on defence, according to Whitehall sources.
In a further blow, France has overtaken Britain as the second biggest contributor after the United States to the coalition against Islamic State — undermining a claim by Mr Cameron this week that British forces pack the second most powerful punch.
“It is all reputational damage to the United Kingdom big time,” said Sir Gerald Howarth, a former Conservative defence minister.
Concerns about the possibility of further military cuts at a time of insecurity, with the rise of Islamic State and Russia, are making defence an election issue for the first time in a generation.
Thirty-five MPs will call today for the government to commit to spending 2 per cent of gross domestic product on the armed forces.
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The row reached Washington yesterday, where Michael Fallon, the defence secretary, was feeling the heat over American fears about Britain’s shrinking prowess. Mr Fallon was unable to commit to the 2 per cent target beyond next year.
The prime minister is understood to have asked aides to explore whether other items can be added to the pot, including MI5, MI6 and GCHQ funding.
Lord Stirrup rejected using the spy budget. “That is the kind of book-keeping for which you would go to prison if you were running a company,” he said.
He cited a pledge by Mr Cameron during a 2010 review that saw the armed forces shrink by 30,000. The prime minister said he was committed to Future Force 2020 — the future shape of the military — which would require a real-terms increase in the whole defence budget between 2016 and 2020. Mr Cameron has since altered this line only to talk about a 1 per cent rise in the equipment portion of the budget.
Asked how he would have responded had he known this at the time, Lord Stirrup said: “I would have said: well the plan won’t work. We will need another plan which will involve even more reductions.”
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In an illustration of Britain’s diminished forces, French fighter jets are conducting 12 to 15 sorties a day over Iraq off a French aircraft carrier that is operating alongside the US Navy in the Gulf.
By comparison, Britain is carrying out up to ten sorties a day — but this includes drones and other spy aircraft.
A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Defence said that Britain was the second largest contributor of air strikes against the jihadists.