Bernard Jenkin

Geoff Hoon should stake his job on the decision to stand by the effectiveness of the army's SA80 rifle, the shadow defence secretary has said.

Bernard Jenkin's call came as the Ministry of Defence announced it still had full confidence in its troubled assault rifle.

The Commander-in-Chief Land, General Sir Mike Jackson, said on Friday that while questions had been raised about the weapon's effectiveness in the dusty conditions of Afghanistan, there were no faults with the weapons.

The MoD said that a full investigation had been conducted into the complaints, which had found "no engineering defects with the modified weapons".

"It was concluded that greater emphasis in training was required on certain aspects of the maintenance regime for this particular weapon, such as the quantity of oil in dusty conditions.

"Tests in Afghanistan, and subsequently in Oman, proved that the weapon was indeed one of the most reliable infantry weapons anywhere in the world, as well as one of the most accurate," said an MoD statement.

The Conservatives said they accepted the general's decision but stood by their decision to call for the weapon to be scrapped two years ago.

"If the rifle is not right this time, then heads should roll. It is not politicians that need to be convinced, it is our soldiers and Royal Marines," said Jenkin.

"Of course, we respect the word of serving officers like General Sir Mike Jackson, but it is ministers' responsibility to ensure that our soldiers have a rifle they truly trust. If ministers are satisfied that the SA80 now meets all requirements I would look to the secretary of state stake his reputation and his office on the SA80A2."

And he called for the Public Accounts Committee to review of the government's decision to upgrade the SA80 in the late 1990s. "This does not seem to be a good example of smart procurement," Jenkin said.

The weapon has a controversial record, with a £92 million upgrade needed to fix earlier problems. It was suspended from Nato's weapons list five years ago because of a series of jams.