The father of a soldier who died in Afghanistan has accused the Ministry of Defence of using Prince Harry as "propaganda" to promote the war.

Anthony Philippson, whose son James died in a firefight with Taliban troops in 2006, criticised the publicity surrounding Prince Harry's deployment and said he was "very cynical" about the MoD's objectives.

Captain James Philippson, 29, of 7 Parachute Regiment Royal Horse Artillery, died in a firefight with Taliban troops on June 11 2006 in which British forces were "totally out-gunned".

Last month Oxfordshire assistant coroner Andrew Walker accused the Ministry of Defence of an unforgivable breach of soldiers' trust over his death.

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Mr Walker and Wiltshire coroner David Masters criticised the Government after hearing that the deaths of Capt Philippson and two other British soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq could have been prevented if they were better equipped.

Mr Philippson, of St Albans, Herts, told GMTV: "He (Harry) went to Sandhurst, so it was inevitable he had to go out there because otherwise he would have resigned from the Army, understandably.

"What's gone wrong, in my view, is the tremendous publicity behind what's happened.

"What it's effectively done, all this publicity over the last few days, is every corner of the world knows what's happened, including all our enemies.

"How can he ever go out there again? He's only got to go missing in a nightclub in London and they'll all know where he's gone."

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