Cutting the international aid budget to boost defence spending – sounds like a fair exchange in a time of war and hazard – but there’s more to this announcement than meets the eye.

The Prime Minister was deadly serious when he stood up in the Commons this week to declare that the country faces a generational challenge that requires a generational response.

He went on to call for “a whole society effort that will reach into the lives, the industries and the homes of the British people.”

It wasn’t quite up there with “we will fight them on the beaches” but he was certainly reaching for some Churchillian rhetoric.

Unfortunately, behind the stirring soundbites lies a fairly basic piece of Westminster spin.

The PM would have us believe that he’s going to spend an extra £13bn on defence – that’s his number and he’s sticking to it – but in fact when you strip away the extra spending that was already on the cards the new money amounts to £6bn – which for context is about £2bn less than Ed Miliband’s been given to spend on his pretend energy company.

The £6bn in question will........

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