The New Statesman’s rolling politics blog   How much does the UK
really spend on defence?  Liam Fox says that we have the fourth
largest military budget in the world. Is he right?  If you cut
through the military jargon, this morning's report from the
defence select committee is remarkably hard hitting. The
committee warns that the government's cuts mean the armed forces
may be falling below the "minimum utility" required to carry out
existing commitments, let alone future ones. Unusually, it also
criticises David Cameron directly, stating that "The Prime
Minister's view that the UK currently has a full spectrum
defence capability is rejected by the committee, as it was by
the Single Service Chiefs."  Liam Fox has responded by
emphasising that the UK retains the "fourth largest military
budget" in the world. But how accurate is this claim? It's true,
in cash terms at least, that we're still one of the biggest
spenders. In fact, according to the latest figures from the
Stockholm International Peace Research In