“I feel that Mr Brown has let the armed forces down by not appointing a secretary of state who is full-time. When you have got people who have been killed and maimed in the service of their Government, and you put at the head of the shop someone who is part-time, that sends a very bad message. And that is the message I get back from our soldiers, our sailors and our airmen. They feel insulted, they feel that he is treating them with contempt.”

The New Labour spin machine does what it always does when panicked, it started rubbishing the five former top brass who have come out on behalf of the troops, it went on attack, briefing that they are only speaking up after they have got their peerage and pensions. Derek Twigg, Secretary of State for Defence and Minister for Veterans. is going around the news studios ludicrously claiming that army morale is high and everything is tickety-boo.

It is not just retired generals, the former Labour defence minister Lord Gilbert has backed the criticism. If the defence of the nation is a part-time priority, the government has no sense of priority.

UPDATE : Guido fan John McTernan, the former Blair henchmen, spins for Browne. Good to see he is doing such a good job.