John Healey has resigned as defence secretary in a devastating blow to Sir Keir Starmer, accusing the prime minister of leaving the country unprepared for war.
In a scathing resignation letter, Healey said the long-delayed Defence Investment Plan (DIP) “falls well short of what is required for defence and the country at this dangerous time”. He blamed Starmer and the Treasury directly: “You have been unable, and the Treasury has been unwilling, to commit the resources that the nation needs to defend the country at this time of rising threats.”
“Defence secretary John Healey resigns in row over military funding, followed by armed forces minister Al Carns.”
Healey, one of Starmer’s most loyal cabinet allies, warned he was being “forced to make decisions that would reduce the readiness of our Forces and increase the risk to personnel on operations, and could make the country less safe”.
Within hours, armed forces minister Al Carns followed him out of the door. A former Royal Marine who served four tours in Afghanistan and was awarded the Military Cross, Carns wrote that the DIP was “neither transformative enough nor sufficiently funded”. He added: “Number 10 will not listen, so I am resigning.”
Carns was blunt in his assessment: “A serious country funds its defence to meet the threat it actually faces, not the threat it wishes it faced.” He also called for a change in leadership, saying: “We need a new way of governing and we need it now.” Carns has been tipped as a potential successor to Starmer.
The resignations triggered a cascade of departures from the Ministry of Defence. Pamela Nash, Healey’s parliamentary private secretary, quit, describing “delays and difficulties” with the DIP as “the latest issue that is damaging to the trust of the public in us”. Rachel Hopkins, another aide, is also believed to have left.
Starmer moved quickly to appoint Dan Jarvis, the security minister and a former British Army officer, as the new defence secretary. In his response to Healey, the prime minister insisted he was “proud of our record on funding” and said the DIP “will provide the resources our military needs to keep us safe”.
But the crisis has further weakened Starmer, whose long-term future in Downing Street was already in doubt. Healey’s exit is the second cabinet resignation in weeks, after Wes Streeting quit as health secretary having “lost confidence” in the PM’s leadership. Sir Keir has faced calls to resign within his own party after poor election results last month, and a crucial by-election next week – in which Labour candidate Andy Burnham is seeking a return to Westminster to challenge for the premiership – looms large.
Internal wrangling over defence spending had been rumbling for months. The DIP, originally due last autumn, was repeatedly delayed. Reports suggested the government was preparing to announce a £13.5bn funding increase over four years, less than the £28bn the MoD requested. Healey said the settlement he received on Monday was “backloaded”, with extra support coming after 2030 when the “imperative to speed up readiness to fight is in the first two years”.
With two defence ministers gone, a Nato summit in Turkey next month approaching, and a prime minister fighting for his political life, the question now is whether Starmer can survive the storm.