Army chief says British troops ready for battle

British troops in the Gulf are ready for immediate action, General Sir Mike Jackson, Chief of the General Staff, said yesterday. In another sign that a war in Iraq was imminent, he said: "Four to five days would be ideal. But even if it was today, it's good to go."

But the head of the Army denied fresh speculation that British forces were ill-equipped and under-fed. Reports from Kuwait suggest that US forces have nicknamed their British allies "The Borrowers" and "The Flintstones" because they lack items such as clothing, vehicles and guns, forcing them to borrow US supplies.

Visiting members of the 1st Battalion, the Royal Irish Regiment, in Kuwait, General Jackson said: "If anything, I am a little concerned it might be too comfortable." He then added: "That was tongue-in-cheek. If they are required to do a dangerous job, they will do it."

On complaints about a lack of toilet paper, he replied: "Any soldier who doesn't have a loo roll in his Bergen [pack] is not a very good soldier. I don't want to get bogged down in the minutiae – no pun intended."

Tony Blair has dismissed reports that British forces are ill-equipped – and even having to buy their own boots – as "misleading and irresponsible". But it was revealed yesterday that a Royal Marine commando had sent an e-mail claiming food supplies were short and that desert boots and camouflage for vehicles had not arrived in the Gulf. The e-mail said: "Scrounging everything from the Americans. As it stands, people here will die."

The BBC said it had received more than 50 examples of complaints from families of servicemen and women only minutes after broadcasting an item about the problems. One relative said: "The Americans call them The Borrowers. She says they have burger bars, pizza huts and shops. We have nothing."

However, one serviceman wrote on the noticeboard: "It is the nature of Tommy Atkins to swap (but not necessarily scrounge) kit; it is also his prerogative to complain, but not to bleat to mummy."

General Jackson's comment that British forces were ready brought a cool response from Downing Street, which still says war is not inevitable.