Mr Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister, appeared before the Chilcot inquiry into the Iraq war and denied that as Chancellor of the Exchequer he had harmfully squeezed defence budgets. ‘At any point, commanders were able to ask for equipment that they needed and I know of no occasion when they were turned down,’ he said. ‘That is simply disingenuous,’ said Lord Guthrie of Craigiebank, Chief of the Defence Staff from 1997 to 2001. ‘He’s being disingenuous,’ said Lord Boyce, the Chief of the Defence Staff from 2001 to 2003. Mr Brown then flew off to see British troops in Afghanistan. The death of a British soldier in Helmand brought the number killed in Afghanistan since 2001 to 272.
Policing and justice powers were devolved to Northern Ireland after a favourable vote of 88 to 17 in its Assembly.
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