David Cameron yesterday accused former top brass of only criticising his government’s record on defence spending to gain publicity for books they have written.
The remarks triggered outrage within the military community, with one former commander calling them “ridiculous and insulting”.
Without naming anyone in particular, the prime minister dismissed concerns about waning British military prowess and insisted that Britain’s role in the world was not shrinking.
His comments came against a growing clamour from former military commanders and even serving American officials over whether the next government will continue to meet a target required by Nato countries to spend a minimum of 2 per cent of national income on defence.
The latest people to speak out include General Sir Peter Wall, a former head of the army, who has not published a book about his service, and Samantha Power, the American ambassador to the United Nations.
Advertisement
Asked about the recent concerns voiced by prominent former military figures, Mr Cameron said: “Obviously they have their own book to talk -sometimes quite literally a book to talk - and sometimes they just want to make their views known.”
One retired officer said: “If that is the best he can do then that is feeble. It just shows you the disdain the prime minister has for professional opinion. Does professional expertise carry no weight in modern government?”
Mr Cameron said that under his government Britain continued to spend 2 per cent of gross domestic product on defence. “What we have done with the defence budget is we froze it in cash terms at around £36 billion - that’s the fifth biggest defence budget in the world and the second biggest in Nato,” told LBC radio.
“We have made very specific pledges to increase in real terms the equipment budget, which is absolutely vital - that’s the aircraft carriers and the Type 26 frigates and the destroyers and hunter-killer submarines and the rest.”
Mr Cameron indicated that going forwards the money spent on Britain’s three spy agencies could be included in the amount of money allocated to defence as part of a Nato calculation of expenditure as a percentage of national income.
Advertisement
Such a move could help to inflate Britain’s defence spending as a ratio of GDP at a time when analysts expect it to fall below the symbolic threshold as early as next year.
“I have responsibility to make sure we make the right decisions about defence and other security spending. I look at these things in the round, so I am also concerned about the budget for MI5, the Secret Intelligence Service, GCHQ, counter-terrorism policing,” Mr Cameron said. “To me all of these things are part of our national defence.”