Officials travelling with Prime Minister Gordon Brown to visit UK forces in Afghanistan yesterday indicated that an announcement was expected within weeks of £100 million for 200 new vehicles which will offer better protection to troops.
But shadow defence secretary Liam Fox raised questions about the order, which he said was originally intended to deliver 400 vehicles.
”We have been waiting for years for replacements to the Snatch Land Rovers,” Dr Fox told BBC1′s Andrew Marr Show.
”There is one very curious element about this, because the public tender that was put out was for 400 vehicles to replace Snatch. The Prime Minister yesterday said it would be 200. What happened to the other 200?
”Tomorrow in Parliament, I will be tabling questions to find out whether this is yet another cut to the equipment on Treasury orders.”
The soft-skinned Snatch Land Rovers are blamed by troops for many of the deaths caused by roadside bombs planted by Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan. The new British-built vehicles, which are due to be delivered to the front line by late 2011, are said to offer world-leading armour along with high manoeuvrability.
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Notes:
It’s been some years since I have watched a self-serving creep like Gordon Brown orchestrating putting troops in harm’s way and short-changing them with the tools they need to fight a war at the very same time. In effect, stabbing them in the back.
He and his party are a “wonder to behold”.
Everyone “wonders” what he is going to do for an encore.
And I’ll tell you:
“He’s all about garbage collection” and watching the UK these many months is like watching “Alice In Wonderland” — the real version.
And it will be more of the same because the UK is a slave to unions. A very bad idea because unions put personal gain ahead of “country” and it’s best interests. That is why the Soviet Union fell. It is also why China will fall.
I’ll tell UK citizens something else they may not want to hear:
David Cameron is his “clone” just like Joe Clark was here in the “colonies”. My view is that the UK might be better off if Conservatives lost the next election with what they term a “hung parliament” (we know it as a ‘minority parliament’) — Cameron goes — and this guy takes over the party.
Then “Brits” are going to really see something.
My personal view: Nothing is as heinous as sending our sons and daughters out to fight the good fight and failing to provide for them as we pander to special interests while lieing to voters about our true intentions.
It is a crime and it should be punished, immediately and with full effect.