PM Tells Iraq Troops: Uh… yeah… so, thanks for that, I suppose…

The PM thanked British troops in Iraq for their sacrifice, but told them it was all a bit of a cock up and apologised for wasting their time

In a ceremony marking the end of British military combat operations in Iraq today, Prime Minister Gordon Brown told serving troops that he was grateful for the work they had carried out, but that they probably shouldn’t have bothered.

“Um… We totally appreciate you coming all the way over here and everything,” said Brown “It’s just that there was a bit of a cock-up with the paperwork and, you’re never going to believe this, it turns out that the whole thing was a complete waste of time after all.”

The Prime Minister went on to tell troops that he really hopes it wasn’t too much trouble for them to fly halfway around the world to occupy a foreign country in the face of a vicious, bloody insurgency for absolutely no good reason whatsoever.

“Thanks for being cool about this,” he said “If you ever need a favour or anything, just give me a shout. Honestly, absolutely anything you need - I really owe you for this. Just call. Except the Gurkhas, that lot can just fuck off.”