Commanding officers at home and on the frontline have been ordered NOT to spend their festive allowance on turkey dinners or carol concerts
They get £30 a year per soldier to splash out on spirit-raising events "such as Junior Soldiers' Christmas Lunch", official guidance says.
The Ministry of Defence edict - leaked to The Sun - was written by Peter Whitehead, deputy head of the MoD's Financial Management Policy and Development.
It reads: "It is improper to spend taxpayers' funds on Christmas trees, decorations, carol concerts or parties.
"Team-building or unit cohesiveness events during Christmas would be viewed by taxpayers as partying at their expense and must be avoided."
It adds: "As always, we want to ensure that the Department does all it can to avoid any adverse Parliamentary or media attention on this topic."
Tory MP Patrick Mercer, a former Army CO, last night branded the decision "cowardice".
He said: "At the stroke of a bureaucrat's pen, centuries of tradition have been swept away for tommies and their officers.
"It is a nasty bit of penny-pinching - narrow-minded cowardice from people who would never face the dangers that our fighting men and women have to. My stomach is churning."
The ban is all the more shameful because the MoD has rung up a £38billion
debt through its own incompetence
More than 17,000 military jobs were axed in last month's review in the toughest defence cuts in two decades.
Ships, aircraft carriers, tanks and the entire Harrier jump jet fleet were also put on the scrapheap.
MoD officials last night insisted that special Christmas dinners will still be laid on out of MoD funds for all troops serving in the Afghan badlands.
A ministry spokesman added: "The restriction placed on public funds is even more necessary this year given the current financial situation."
