Gordon Brown said that he would “do his duty” by the Armed Forces yesterday after an apparently co-ordinated assault on him by five former defence chiefs that overshadowed his first trip to a Commonwealth summit.

After his worst week so far as Prime Minister, which included a sustained battering over lost bank account details, Northern Rock and plummeting poll ratings, Mr Brown found himself under personal attack for his handling of the Forces. He responded by declaring that he had nothing but praise for them, recalling his visits to Iraq and Afghanistan and speaking of their acts of courage and sacrifice.

Some government supporters and officials were furious about the intervention of the five former chiefs in a Lords debate, and openly incredulous about their claim that it had not been planned in advance.

Mr Brown denied claims that he was starving the Services of resources. He said: “I want to see the Armed Forces properly equipped with the resources they need. Every year of this Government we have increased expenditure on defence compared with cuts under the previous Government.” Spending would go up by £1 billion in each of the next few years and there was also additional money for spending on the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, he said.

He added: “I want to match the professionalism of our Armed Forces, the determination they show, with the resources they need. I have got enormous respect for our Armed Forces.”

Some Labour figures were angry that the military had attacked Mr Brown personally while he was out of the country. One Labour MP asked: “Isn’t that how all coups start?”

Mr Brown refused to comment on the personal criticisms but said that there would always be a debate about resources. “The question is, are you doing the right thing by our Armed Forces and are you doing the right thing by the public services?” he said. “I have got to get on with my job, to do my duty by the Armed Forces and the public services of this country.”

His attempts to regain the initiative were undermined, however, as the Government was accused by a committee of MPs of ignoring a highly critical report into the state of military accommodation. The Commons Defence Committee said that it was extremely disappointed with the response of the Ministry of Defence to the report. Although the MoD acknowledged the “scale of the challenge” that it was facing in providing high-quality housing for Service families, the committee said that the ministry had ignored many of its recommendations.

David Cameron backed the complaint by the former defence chiefs that Des Browne, the Defence Secretary, was also Scottish Secretary.

Admiral Lord Boyce, who had said that there was “blood on the floor” at the MoD because of the cutbacks, said that military personnel felt that the Prime Minister had treated them with contempt by making Mr Browne split his duties.

“When you have got people who have been killed and maimed in the service of their Government, and you put at the head of the shop someone who is part-time, that sends a very bad message,” he said.

The battlefront

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