The long-awaited publication of Charles Haddon-Cave’s inquiry into the Nimrod disaster that cost the lives of 14 British servicemen has laid the blame squarely on the Ministry of Defence for sacrificing safety to cut costs (Daily Echo, October 29).

However, we all know who is ultimately to blame.

The real villain of the piece is our present Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, who, during his disastrous decade as Chancellor of the Exchequer, slashed defence budgets year after year – forcing the MOD into finding ways of cutting costs – at the same time as the government was increasing the burden upon the armed forces.

I find it astonishing that some people can still refer to Gordon Brown as the most prudent Chancellor of modern times when all the evidence points to the contrary.

Is it not obscene that a government that thinks nothing of squandering almost £90 billion a year on hundreds of largely ineffectual quangos cannot find a tiny fraction of that amount to provide our servicemen and women with the equipment and protection they deserve?

This doesn’t, in any way, excuse the MOD for its own failings – but it should not become the scapegoat for the actions of a morally-bankrupt, penny-pinching government.

I have long maintained that the biggest danger faced by our armed services is being stabbed in the back by the government at home.

Robert Readman, Norwich Avenue West, Bournemouth