Brown slated by five former defence chiefs in The Lords

Admiral Lord Boyce was highly critical of Brown’s decision to give the defence secretary a second job as secretary for Scotland.
"It is seen as an insult by our sailors, our soldiers and our airmen on the front line.
And I know because I have reason to speak to them a lot. And it is certainly a demonstration of the disinterest and some might say contempt that the prime minister and his government has for our armed forces.
And it shows an appalling lack of judgement at a time when our people are being killed and they are being maimed."
Another former defence chief, General Lord Guthrie, said Mr Brown had been "unsympathetic" to the military.
Lord Guthrie said: "In my experience... he [Gordon Brown] was a most unsympathetic chancellor of the exchequer as far as defence was concerned - and the only senior Cabinet minister who avoided coming to the Ministry of Defence to be briefed by our staff on our problems."
General Sir Richard Dannatt also raised the issue of the strain placed on resources by operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.