[Iran Press TV Latest] One of the two former cabinet ministers who launched a failed leadership coup against British Prime Minister Gordon Brown last week has attacked the premier on the unpopular war in Afghanistan. Former defense secretary Geoff Hoon has returned to the limelight with leaked ministerial letters dated from 2002 to 2004 showing how Brown, who was the finance minister at the time, forestalled his acquisition of battlefield equipment deemed vital for the troops' survival in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Hoon and a former health secretary, Patricia Hewitt, emailed a letter to lawmakers from the ruling Labour Party, calling for a secret vote on Brown's leadership to save the "deeply divided" party.
Brown's allies dismissed the two as embittered traitors, but the newly leaked documents could undermine Brown's leadership in the run-up to the general elections due by June.
According to the leaked letters, Brown personally blocked the Ministry of Defense (MoD) from spending extra Treasury cash on helicopters for Iraq and Afghanistan, despite earlier assurances.
The controversy surrounding shortage of life-saving choppers used to mobilize troops in the field of battle sparked outrage among the British public -- which is already unhappy with the UK's involvement in the Afghan conflict.
Brown's actions effectively prevented military chiefs from buying new helicopters, which could now be in service in Afghanistan, the Sunday Times said.
Downing Street played down the revelations, noting that while in office as the defense secretary, Hoon himself had declared he had received an "excellent" deal from the Treasury on MoD funding.
In August 2009, a leaked official dossier allegedly suppressed by lawmakers gave a damning account of MoD's acquisition program over the past 11 years since the last official review.
The author of the secret report, Bernard Gray, a former special adviser to Labour defense ministers, accused the department of "endemic" failures.
"We are at present fighting a tough infantry war of mobile patrolling against insurgents. In this war, more and better helicopters and armoured vehicles are the key to rapid response and reduction in casualties," he wrote.
"Yet, the MoD seems more concerned to find huge funds for two aircraft carriers and a replacement for Trident. This would give priority for expenditure on weapons systems we are unlikely to use rather than the weapon systems we are actually using in combat in Afghanistan," Gray stressed.