Forces 'short of cash in war run-up'

Former Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon said the forces’ budget was underfunded for years prior to the war and had to rely on efficiency savings.

As a result, he said, the Ministry of Defence had to buy much of the equipment needed for the conflict at the last minute through the system of “urgent operational requirements” (UORs).

The then Prime Minister Tony Blair refused to allow active preparations for war to begin until just five months before the invasion was launched because he did not want to undermine diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis through the United Nations.

As a result, some kit, such as desert combat fatigues and desert boots,failed to reach the front line in time for the start of the war in March 2003.

“Some got to theatre in time, some did not,” he said. “There were certainly complaints about desert combats. Quite a lot of soldiers went into action in green combats and they didn’t like it. Some soldiers did not have the right boots.”

Mr Hoon said that when he became defence secretary in 1999 there was a belief in the MoD that it had never received the cash needed to fund the 1998 strategic defence review.

Bernard Ingham: Page 13.