Hoon dispatches 400 extra troops to Iraq
Four hundred extra British troops will be dispatched to Iraq in the run-up to the Iraqi elections at the end of the month.
Defence Secretary Geoff Hoon announced the deployment during defence questions in the House of Commons at lunchtime.
There are no details yet on where the troops will be deployed or the duties that they will undertake.
But, Mr Hoon said that the troops had been held in a high state of readiness for a limited deployment for election duties.
The Defence Secretary denied accusations that he “slipped out” the announcement.
Question time, he argued, was an entirely appropriate environment to make such an announcement and he denied that he should have made a full statement to the House.
Any other suggestions were “nonsense”, Mr Hoon said.
He also rejected suggestions that the announcement had any particular significance considering the infantry cuts announced before Christmas.
The dispatch of more troops had been trailed in some of the Sunday papers, and speaking before the confirmation Liberal Democrat defence spokesman Paul Keetch said: “If British commanders feel they need more troops in the British sector during the election period then they should have them.”
However, he demanded that “any future deployment of British forces outside their sector should be referred to the House of Commons.”
