David Cameron responded to Gordon Brown’s statement on Afghanistan by stressing the need for more helicopters.
He attacked the Prime Minister’s claim that there has been an increase in helicopter capacity since 2006, pointing out that as the number of troops has doubled, there has been no proportionate increase.
He quoted Lord Guthrie, the former Chief of Defence Staff, who said that more helicopters would save lives.
And he asked Gordon Brown if he regretted cutting £1.4 billion from the helicopter budget in 2004 when he was Chancellor.
David also told the Prime Minister that “more needs to be done” to set out and explain the right strategy in Afghanistan.
“It must be tightly defined, hard-headed and realistic. As he said, we need to be absolutely clear about what our mission should be. It is about security: it is to deny the ability of Al Qaeda to have bases in Afghanistan.”