The famous advice of Deep Throat to Woodward and Bernstein in the dark underground car park during the Watergate investigation applies to the world of politics as much as it does to investigative journalism. "Follow the money," the FBI agent Mark Felt is said to advised the two Washington Post reporters.
The Tories decided to follow Felt's advice today after Jim Murphy told me in a Guardian interview that Labour would accept £5bn of the government's defence cuts.
In a press release this evening, which accuses Labour of "hypocrisy", the Tories accused the shadow defence secretary of identifying only £3.49bn in cuts. Were this to be true it would be a perfect line of attack for the Conservatives. If a party fails to make its numbers add up it has no credibility.
There was just one problem with the Tory press release. It was untrue. The Tories made the mistake because they added together the cuts listed in my article. But I was careful to make clear that I was not providing a comprehensive list because I was only including some of the cuts.
We did not have the space to list the cuts in full. So, for the record, here they are. These were provided to me by Murphy's office before I wrote my article and blog:
Labour's defence savings
Reduction in heavy armoured platforms, £35m
Withdraw the three variants of the TriStar transport/tanker aircraft from service, £50m
Nimrod MR4, £2bn (over ten years – 2011/12-2021/22)
One Bay-class amphibious support ship, £25m
Non-frontline savings:
Rationalisation of the defence estate, £350m
Reduce media and communications, £65m
Reductions on commodity spend, £80m
Cuts to civilian allowances, £205m
Revision to Administrative Costs Regime, £800m
Sales of assets such as the Defence Support Group and the Marchwood Sea Mounting Centre and the Defence stake in the telecommunications spectrum, £500m
Other:
Submarine Enterprise Performance Programme (this makes efficiencies in the Trident renewal programme), £900m (over ten years – 2011/12-2021/22)
Total: £5.010bn (over ten years – 2011/12-2021/22)
As I wrote on Thursday, Labour has identified other areas where it will accept further cuts. But the government is not releasing details in these areas which means Labour has more work to do to put a figure on these savings. Murphy made clear to me that when this work is completed Labour will eventually accept more than £5bn of defence cuts.
It is not for me to defend Murphy. But it is my job to correct the record if a Guardian article is misrepresented. The Tories declined to correct their press release.
Comments
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6 January 2012 5:48PM
The Tories are wrong about everything! Remember. The UK is Bankrupt, There is no money left?
This was always a danger when the Conservative Director of Communications (I say that with tongue in cheek)happened to be an ex editor of the Disgraced former organisation THE NEWS OF THE WORLD!
6 January 2012 5:57PM
Thank you for putting the record straight and showing yet again the incompetence and arrogance of the Tory machine.
Now please get the story onto the main news page with big headlines.
6 January 2012 5:58PM
The Tories, really do not get it. They are making nurses who probably do not vote for them, work themselves to death. At the same time they are now offering to pay for the removal of breast implants from the women who are stupid enough to probably vote Tory and have implants in the first place.
And as for defense cuts do they think it will attract the female vote.
6 January 2012 6:01PM
Great news! Now Murphy just has to find the remaining £38billion overspend/black hole labour left behind. Other ex labour government ministers and current shadow ministers can assist with 'finding' the £billions wasted on IT projects, PFI contracts, inflated public sector wage bill due to a million extra employees and a whole lot more.
6 January 2012 6:06PM
TheBreast implant has yet to blow up in Cameron's face! (Pun)
Of course Dave's fiends in the Private sector will ensure their companies will go into voluntary liquidation at the merest hint of potential damages arising from litigation. See you all on the beach in the Tax Haven Boys!
I hear Lansley is suggesting there is minimal risk. He is not the 'Tit' with the problem.
6 January 2012 6:25PM
That hasn't seemed to bother them before, why should it now? Perception trumps facts every time for this government and it's a certainty that more people will hear the Tories attack on Labour than will hear the rebuttal of that attack.
Cameron still repeats things in PMQs that we already know to be untrue as if they were true, they're not going to care about a press release that only the Guardian is interested in correcting.
6 January 2012 6:28PM
Liar, liar pants on fire - the Tories new slogan as all they can do is lie, deceive and misrepresent and that frankly is me being charitable to the CONS !
6 January 2012 6:38PM
One problem is the statement: "Cuts to civilian allowances, £205m" The Tories propose cuts in civilian allowances of £50m. The rest is from military allowances. I doubt the total spend on civilian allowances gets much beyond £200m. Is Labour to ask civil servants to pay for their own travel and hotel bills when away on MOD business?
There are other flaws in Jim Murphy's case as well (shared with the Tories). Selling DSG, for example, won't save a penny. Privatising armored vehicle repair will end up costing more.
6 January 2012 6:42PM
That's the £38bn that C4 Factcheck investigated and found that the MOD could only come up with £20bn?
In any case, the "black hole" isn't really anything of the kind if you read this.
Care to justify this number?
6 January 2012 7:05PM
So was it just poor journalism then ?
6 January 2012 7:08PM
What part of this:
giving a detailed breakdown of how Labour would accept £5bn of the government's defence cuts. These include:
do you not understand?
6 January 2012 7:22PM
Black hole seems to mean existing commitments. Have I got that right?
6 January 2012 7:27PM
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-14574059
See this:
And this
That was in 15 months.
6 January 2012 7:34PM
The 'tits' in office when the majority of these implants were carried was who? oh yes labour f**ked up again, another mess to sort out.
6 January 2012 7:44PM
I'd love to know how you can blame Labour for something which happened mainly in private clinics...maybe we should have had more regulation?
6 January 2012 7:55PM
I think you may be a little pre-mature in congratulating the Guardian.
The biggest saving identified is:
I have news for you: the Nimrod MRA4 was scrapped in 2010 by the coalition. Is Labour planning to re-scrap it? That's a £2 billion hole in the 'savings' right away.
6 January 2012 8:08PM
Maybe you should read the article properly. It clearly states:
The Tories decided to follow Felt's advice today after Jim Murphy told me in a Guardian interview that Labour would accept £5bn of the government's defence cuts.
Not hard surely?
6 January 2012 8:16PM
You're right - I didn't read the article, I just browsed the figures.
My fault for not bothering even with bite-sized Guardian articles.
7 January 2012 10:00AM
This isn't a story Nicholas.
The Tories are wrong about something?
I'm waiting for the news that they are right something. Now that would be news...
7 January 2012 11:55PM
"The Tories declined to correct their press release"
Says it all. Even when they get caught out lying they still swear blind it is true. Goebbels would have been very proud.
8 January 2012 8:06PM
Correcting mistakes and misrepresentations is not something Tories do.
Here's a story from Conservative Home
Note that it quotes from the Independent.
Here is the correction in the independent stating that their piece was factually erroneous - no correction appears in Conservative Home.