Tory stooge and former head of the Army, General Sir Richard Dannatt has attempted to blame the former Labour regime for letting down British soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan — but his own Conservative Party is equally to blame for stabbing our troops in the back.

In his new autobiography, Leading From the Front, Sir Richard accused Tony Blair and Gordon Brown of letting down British troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and described the case for the Iraq war as "most uncompelling."

He called Mr Brown "malign" for failing to fund the armed forces adequately, and said Mr Blair lacked the "moral courage" to make his then chancellor deliver the money that was needed.

Not only was the evidence for Iraq's possession of weapons of mass destruction “most uncompelling” but the “planning for the aftermath of war was an abject failure,” he added.

Sir Richard’s attempts to whitewash the role of the Conservative Party in the military debacle collapse under the lightest scrutiny.

Firstly, his party’s then leader, Iain Duncan-Smith, supported by the entire rest of the party, enthusiastically embraced and supported the WMD lies and actually at one stage accused Mr Blair of “dragging his feet” in attacking Iraq.

Secondly, while it is true that Labour deliberately underfunded the army despite sending it on a “mission impossible” type venture, this policy of underspending has continued under Sir Richard’s Tory friends as well.

According to cuts already outlined by Conservative Defence Secretary Liam Fox, the British military helicopter fleet will be cut by 20 percent.

Helicopters are vital for moving troops around in heavily Taliban-infiltrated areas and were a source of much dissatisfaction under the Labour regime.

Amongst many of the scandals which have emerged since the Tory/Lib Dem coalition entered government, one of the worst has been the news that British troops returning from Afghanistan are paying for commercial flights back to the UK because the RAF's ageing transport aircraft keep breaking down.

According to reports, delays to "rest and recuperation" (R and R) flights are now almost routine because of the operational demands being imposed on the TriStar jets, former passenger airliners bought by the RAF in the early 1980s.

Sir Richard was appointed with much fanfare to an advisory role in the Shadow Defence team for the Conservatives in the House of Lords in October last year.

He has yet to formally take up the role, but is currently being boosted by the Tory press in his weak attempts to blame Labour for a situation which is so obviously also the fault of his own party.