Former military heads say a request for helicopters was denied Two former heads of the armed forces have strongly challenged Gordon Brown's evidence to the Iraq war inquiry.The prime minister, who was chancellor when the war began, said the military had been given everything it asked for. But Lord Guthrie, ex-chief of the defence staff, said in the Daily Telegraph that armed forces had been denied a request for more helicopters. His successor, Lord Boyce, told the Times Mr Brown had been "disingenuous", but No 10 rejected the criticisms. Downing Street insisted that Mr Brown could not have been clearer in his response to questions about military funding. It also repeated his statement that no request for equipment had ever been turned down. Lord Guthrie, who held his post from 1997 to 2001, said the Ministry of Defence "received the bare minimum from the chancellor, who wanted to give the military as little as he could get away with". At any point, commanders were able to ask for equipment that they needed Prime Minister Gordon Brown Full story: Brown grilled Robinson: Brown vs Blair Brown: The unasked questions He said: "The whole defence budget was extremely difficult to run in his time.[Read more...]