John Healey, the defence secretary, resigned on Thursday, accusing Keir Starmer of being “unwilling to commit the resources” needed to keep Britain safe. Armed forces minister Al Carns quit alongside him, in a double blow that one Labour source said mirrored how “the Tories got rid of Boris”. Healey is the fourth cabinet minister to leave Starmer’s government since Labour came to power.
In his resignation letter, Healey wrote: “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.” He reminded the prime minister that Starmer himself had said only last week he believed “there could be an attack by Russia on Nato as soon as 2030. You know what defence needs.”
“John Healey resigns as defence secretary, accusing Starmer of failing to fund defence, as Andy Burnham prepares leadership challenge.”
The resignations come just days before next Thursday’s Makerfield by-election, where Andy Burnham is the favourite to win and launch a leadership challenge. Internal polling by Labour’s campaign team suggests Burnham “will win easily and actually embarrass Reform UK”, putting him in a strong position to challenge Starmer immediately on his return to the Commons.
Burnham is already preparing for No 10. He is organising his Downing Street operation and sounding out candidates for cabinet roles. Louise Haigh and deputy leader Lucy Powell are expected to be included, while deputy prime minister David Lammy and chief whip Jonathan Reynolds are on a list of ministers likely to be sacked. Burnham has also promised to end the suspension of rebel MP Karl Turner, a vocal critic of Lammy’s reforms to jury trials.
One Labour source noted: “The data shows the biggest reason people are voting for Andy is to get rid of Starmer.” A series of ministerial resignations is expected after the by-election result, much like the wave that forced Boris Johnson to step down. Starmer has insisted he intends to fight any leadership contest, but a slew of resignations would make that considerably more difficult.
The New Statesman described these as “the end times for Keir Starmer’s government”, noting that Healey’s resignation came from “one of the most instinctively loyal and centrist members of the government”. George Robertson, co-author of the Strategic Defence Review and a former Labour defence secretary, had already attacked Starmer for “corrosive complacency”. The Defence Investment Plan, due next week, is expected to provoke further fury from the armed forces, just ahead of a crucial Nato summit in Turkey in early July.