Liam Fox Declares War on George Osborne

Liam Fox may well be correct to argue that the Ministry of Defence ought not to be subject to the same level of cuts as other government departments. It is odd to ring-fence NHS and International Development budgets but not the MoD even though there’s supposed to be a war on and all the rest of it.

But let’s not pretend that a 10% cut in the MoD budget will necessarily, as the good doctor warns, “destroy” the “reputation and capital” the Tories have accumulated on defence issues for the very good reason that I’m not sure how much that capital has really been earned. Eighteen months ago Fox’s defence policy was, broadly speaking, much the same as the then Labour government’s with the single difference being that Fox wanted to spend more on defence. Few people listening to his speeches then would have thought there were many if any tough choices ahead.