Gordon Brown deliberately underplayed the potential cost of the Iraq conflict when presenting figures to Parliament as the conflict was getting under way, according to records obtained under freedom of information legislation.
In April 2003, the then Chancellor told MPs that the Government was creating a Treasury special reserve of £3 billion to cover “the full cost of our military obligations” – an assertion repeated no fewer than nine times in his Budget report.
But documents unearthed by the BBC World Service under the Freedom of Information Act reveal that, just a month earlier, Mr Brown had been advised by his Treasury officials that the full cost of the conflict was likely to be at least £5 billion. The heavily redacted files took 16 months to emerge after the BBC’s request. They show that officials informed the Chancellor that the Government would require £3.5 billion for combat operations, £1.9 billion for the cost of military occupation and a possible further £1 billion from other departments for humanitarian aid and reconstruction.
The Treasury was unable to provide an explanation as to why Mr Brown gave the Commons much more conservative figures or on what basis the lower figure could be justified. At the time, there was much disquiet across all parties about the potential cost, which, it was feared, could be open-ended.
Aides to Mr Brown were also at the time allowing it to be perceived in Westminster that Mr Brown was unconvinced by the case for war and that he was attracting the opprobrium of Number 10 because of his reluctance to expedite clear and sufficient Treasury resources to back the military operation.
Mr Brown has been accused by Tory shadow defence minister Liam Fox of misleading the Commons, although the figures are academic. Latest estimates for the cost of the Iraq operation have reached £9.2 billion, not including the cost of medical care for troops injured in the conflict.
A Treasury spokesperson said that estimating the cost of the conflict at an early stage was “hugely complex due to the fundamental uncertainties surrounding military options”.
