Gordon Brown: Paymaster general for the Iraq war

Whether Gordon Brown "had no input" (Clare Short) or was "closely involved" (Alistair Campell) in the decision to go to war in Iraq, he signed the cheques which made it possible.

When Gordon Brown appears at the Iraq Inquiry on Friday 5 May, he may try and distance himself from Tony Blair's drive to take Britain into an illegal war, picking up Clare Short's statement that he "had no input" because he was "pre-occupied with other things".

Blair's spin doctor Alistair Campbell told Chilcot's committee a different story, that Brown was "closely involved".

But one fact is undeniable. Brown's signature was needed on the cheques that funded the war. He had the power to scupper the war just by the threat of resignation. He didn't. And as the paymaster general he was as culpable as Tony Blair in promoting a war which was opposed by a majority of the British public and which devastated Iraq and slaughtered hundreds of thousands of civilians.

Not content with bankrolling the Iraq war crimes, Brown's unqualified support for the US-led war in Afghanistan has him spending sums which dwarf the total spent in Iraq.

UK costs of war: Iraq

What you could do with £8.5 billion
• Give £125 to every man, woman and child in Britain.
• Fund the recruitment and retention of over 25,000 new teachers for ten years.
• Fund all NHS maternity care for four years.
• Fund all NHS Accident and Emergency provision for four and a half years.
• Fund the Jobseeker's Allowance for three years.
• Fund all government spending on the railways for five years.

UK costs of war: Afghanistan

£12 billion: Overall cost of Afghan campaign 2001 to 2010.

What you could do with £12 billion
• Give £190 to every man, woman and child in Britain.
• Pay for 60,000 teachers
• Pay for 77,000 nurses
• Build 23 new hospitals

Design Sam Oxby