PM defends MoD bonuses
BONUSES of nearly £300million for Ministry of Defence civil servants were defended by Gordon Brown against a growing tide of fury yesterday.
But he promised bereaved service families that he would examine the issue.
The Armistice Day admission of payments, including £47million this year, forced the Prime Minister back on to the defensive over Afghanistan.
Grieving families said it was “disgusting” that bonuses totalling £287,809,049 had gone to civil servants since the start of the Iraq war in 2003 when British troops were being wounded and killed for lack of equipment. But Mr Brown said: “Some of the people who have received help have been working out in the field and have been supporting people out there.”
The MoD said the bonuses for 50,000 people this year averaged less than £1,000 each.
Hazel Hunt, whose 21-year-old son Richard died after an explosion hit his vehicle in Afghanistan’s Helmand Province, said it was “obscene they have got such bonuses while our troops are being short-changed, not only in equipment but also in the fact that my son was barely on £17,000 a year”.