Defence is the one public budget we dare not question – will Andy Burnham break this cycle? | Andy Beckett

Any boost for the military will be paid for by cuts elsewhere. Britain’s new PM should be careful he is not being sold a pup For many British voters, politicians and journalists, public spending has had a bad name since the late 1970s, when Margaret Thatcher’s government began its long campaign to tame the supposedly bloated state. From this perspective, the public sector wastes money, commissions unnecessary or out-of-date projects and generates endless jargon and reasons for its own…