Prime Minister David Cameron visits British Troops in Afghanistan, June 11, 2010 (photo: UK Ministry of Defense)
Oliver Letwin, head of policy at Number 10, has been asked to consider what kinds of spending can be categorised by Nato as “defence” expenditure in order to keep the UK close to the 2 per cent target, one government figure said.
Ministry of Defence officials have already managed to boost the amount included in Nato calculations significantly this year. The ministry is to add war pensions, worth slightly more than £800m annually, to its Nato submission for 2015-16. This means UK spending will just meet the 2 per cent commitment this year.
David Cameron has asked ministers to investigate if the intelligence agencies budget can be counted as “defence spending”, as Downing Street eyes creative accountancy to head off US criticism of military spending.