Brown will have gone through the usual politician's trick of disconnecting from this, dealing with it at arms length as if it is nothing to do with him. He is interested in power, as they all are, and a few soldiers more or less won't worry them in the overall plan to keep power.
Remember Rudyard Kipling:
"For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' 'Chuck him out, the brute!'
But it's 'Saviour of 'is country' when the guns begin to shoot;
An' it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' anything you please;
An' Tommy ain't a bloomin' fool - you bet that Tommy sees!"