All Servicemen and women will see their basic pay go up by 2.6%, and X-Factor pay will go up from 13 to 14 per cent, Defence Secretary Des Browne, announced today, 7 February 2008.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has announced during a visit to Iraq on Tuesday that 1,000 British troops could be home by Christmas as he aims to hand control of Basra province back to the Iraqis within two months.

Senior military commanders have told Prime Minister Gordon Brown that Britain can achieve "nothing more" in south-east Iraq and 5,500 British troops still deployed there should be withdrawn without any delay, media reported in London on Sunday.

Prolonged periods of deployment among Britain’s armed forces is associated with mental health problems, finds a study published on bmj.com today.

Army personnel involved in the Iraqi invasion of 2003 have not absorbed dangerous levels of depleted uranium, finds research published ahead of print in Occupational and Environmental Medicine.