John Healey told the Prime Minister he was being forced to make decisions that “could make the country less safe” – then resigned. The Defence Secretary’s letter, published on Thursday, accused Sir Keir Starmer of failing to commit the resources needed to defend Britain at a time of rising threats.
“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,” Healey wrote. Without a Defence Investment Plan that “meets the moment”, he said, he was being forced to reduce the readiness of the armed forces and increase risk to personnel on operations.
“John Healey's resignation over defence funding deals a potentially fatal blow to Keir Starmer's leadership.”
The resignation is a devastating blow to a Prime Minister who, only six days ago, told workers at a Swindon weapons factory: “My first duty, the duty above everything else, is to keep our country safe, and to keep our people safe.” Starmer has since insisted the Government will “give our armed forces the capabilities they need to defend Britain and keep our nation secure”, but the gap between rhetoric and reality has now been exposed by his own Defence Secretary.
Healey was an early Starmer supporter, described by colleagues as instinctively loyal and centrist. Even political opponents acknowledged his integrity; Richard Tice called him “widely respected”, and the shadow defence secretary James Cartlidge said: “An honourable man has done an honourable thing.” He has reportedly ruled out a run for the Labour leadership, making it hard to paint his decision as self-serving.
But the substance of his accusation goes to the heart of Starmer’s competence. The as-yet-unpublished Defence Investment Plan reportedly offers only £10 billion of new money – far short of the £28 billion the armed forces said was needed just to stand still. The heads of the armed forces were prepared to denounce it, and Labour MPs were already conspiring to block cuts to welfare or the NHS. George Robertson, the former Labour defence secretary and Nato secretary general who co-authored the Strategic Defence Review, had earlier attacked Starmer for “corrosive complacency”.
With a Makerfield by-election next week and a crucial Nato summit in Turkey in early July, the timing could hardly be worse. Healey’s resignation, coming from a man who believed Starmer was serious and clear-eyed about Labour’s challenges, has left the Prime Minister fighting for his political survival. As one commentator put it: “Whatever chance there was of the PM clinging on seems gone now.”