MP tackles Prime Minister over Chilcot Inquiry
25th March 2010
Hemel Hempstead MP and long-time armed forces campaigner, Mike Penning, led Prime Minister’s Question Time this week with a question on the Prime Minister’s evidence to the Chilcot Inquiry. The Chilcot Inquiry has been set up to look at UK policy decisions on the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
At last week’s Prime Minister’s Questions, the Prime Minister – who was Chancellor of the Exchequer at the time of the invasion – had been forced to admit that he had misled the Inquiry. He corrected his original statement that defence spending had risen year on year conceding “in one or two years, defence expenditure did not rise in real terms.”
Following up on this, Mike asked when he realised that he had misled the Inquiry – whether it was before or after he gave evidence.
Speaking afterwards Mike said:
“Our brave service men and women cannot fight our battles for us with one arm tied behind their backs. We owe it to them to ensure that they have all the resources they need. We have heard time and again from service chiefs that they have not been given everything they have asked for. The Government needs to know that we are watching them very carefully on this – there are real concerns that our soldiers must have the very best equipment that is available.”
