Wes Streeting has accused Keir Starmer of “poor leadership, poor judgement and bad politics” after defence secretary John Healey and armed forces minister Al Carns resigned in protest at the government’s defence investment plan. The former health secretary, who resigned in May and is planning to challenge Starmer for the Labour leadership, told the New Statesman the row “underscores the case for change and change quickly because we can’t go through any more of this inertia.” He urged colleagues to “wake up and smell the coffee” and warned that unless things change, “we will give this country to Nigel Farage and he will walk into Downing Street at the next general election.”
Healey and Carns quit on Thursday over what they called an “inadequate” Defence Investment Plan. Starmer defended the plan as a “hard-edged decision” while anonymous government sources attacked Healey as a proponent of cutting public services to fund military spending. Streeting described those briefings as “juvenile” and said they “debased his critics”. He called Healey “one of the most respected figures across the Labour Party” and “a good man, and has been a great defence secretary.”
“Wes Streeting attacks Keir Starmer after defence secretary John Healey and minister Al Carns resign over spending.”
Just days earlier, Healey had announced plans to favour British firms in defence contracts, saying he wanted to be “unashamedly pro-Britain”. Speaking at the GMB Union’s congress, he said the government would develop a new approach giving credit to British-based companies and make greater use of national security exemptions to require certain capabilities to be built in Britain. He added that if a contract is “sent overseas”, the industry would be required to create jobs in the UK via a “British offset”. The move followed a letter from Chancellor Rachel Reeves to every spending minister demanding they “buy British” wherever possible, highlighting shipbuilding, steel, AI and energy infrastructure. Healey said the chancellor was “right recently when she said we need to buy British.”
Streeting rejected the binary choice between defence and public services, floating alternative proposals for rearmament funding. He said the resignations showed the government is “not open to ideas, this is not a government that is willing to draw on expertise.” The challenge for Starmer’s leadership is expected to ramp up after the conclusion of the Makerfield by-election.