LONDON - The government scrambled to defend its record on Friday after five former defence chiefs accused Prime Minister Gordon Brown of neglecting the armed forces and risking soldiers' lives.

Former military heads have occasionally grumbled in the past that the armed forces are under-funded for two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. But speeches in the House of Lords by five retired armed forces chiefs on Thursday amounted to an attack on their former political masters unheard of in modern times.

The criticism came on the day a report accused the government of selling off the defence ministry's research arm for far too little money, allowing a handful of senior civil servants who negotiated the deal to earn millions of pounds.

Admiral Michael Boyce, who led British forces into Iraq before retiring in 2003, said there was "blood on the floor" at the ministry of defence as officials rushed to slash spending programmes while soldiers fought abroad.

General Charles Guthrie, chief of defence staff from 1997-2001, said Brown was personally to blame for failing to fund the forces during a decade in charge of the treasury.

"He was the most unsympathetic Chancellor of the Exchequer as far as defence is concerned," he said. "I think really he must take much of the blame for the very serious situation we find the services in today."

Defence Secretary Des Browne defended his boss, the government's record and the morale of its soldiers.

"There is no view among the current chiefs of staff that they have a prime minister ... who disregarded the contribution that they make to the security of this country or valued the people who do it. That is not their view," he told BBC radio.

"I am not long back from Iraq, and I found the morale of our troops as high as it could be," he said on Friday.

The Ministry of Defence said defence expenditure was increasing faster than inflation and was the second highest in the world after the United States.

TALK SHOWS

But despite the fightback, the ex-chiefs took the criticism to the morning talk shows on Friday.

"The money that defence is given for its budget is not sufficient to meet the level of activities we are currently required to engage in," Boyce told BBC's breakfast television.

Because soldiers do not have resources for training, "the first time they see some of their equipment is when they actually go out on their very first operational patrol".

He attacked Brown personally for giving the defence secretary a second job running Scotland.

"I feel that he has let the armed forces down by not appointing a secretary of state who is full time. When you've got people who are getting killed and maimed in the service of their government, and you put at the head of the shop someone who is part-time, that sends a very bad message."

"And that is the message I get back from our soldiers and our sailors and our airmen. They feel insulted. They feel he is treating them with contempt."

Britain has about 13,000 troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, and thousands more on deployments or training from the Balkans to Belize.

The attacks will hurt Brown, whose popularity has plunged to the lowest level since he took over from Tony Blair in June. In recent weeks he has suffered the failure of bank Northern Rock, and news this week that officials lost a computer disc with personal bank account details of millions of people.