Conservative MP Patrick Mercer said Mr Hammond's comments were "a warning shot across Treasury boughs and Lib Dem boughs".
Their spelin/grammar is worse than mine.
I do wonder in the term Bow ( the front of a boat) did come from "Bough" the bit of a tree where the big branches separate from the trunk.
Ming Camp Bell makes a good point:
"if it would not seem flippant, I would say to Philip Hammond 'welcome to the club'".
But he welcome the defence secretary's acknowledgement that, in terms of the military, "our publicly-stated ambitions now significantly exceed our capacity".
I think my publicly stated ambitions were exceeded long ago!!