Keir Starmer suffered another hammer blow today as John Healey dramatically quit the Government, accusing him of failing to ‘defend the country’.
The defence secretary announced he was resigning with a brutal parting shot at the PM and Chancellor Rachel Reeves after months of bitter wrangling over military funding.
Mr Healey said he could not accept the settlement in the Defence Investment Plan because it fell ‘well short of what is required’ at a ‘dangerous time’.
He suggested the proposals would only boost military spending from 2.6 per cent of GDP next year to just 2.68 per cent in 2030, despite the ‘imperative to speed up readiness to fight’. That is equivalent to around £10billion extra, about a third of what had been pleaded for.
Swiping at Sir Keir and the Chancellor, Mr Healey said: ‘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.’
As Sir Keir’s grip on power loosened again, allies of Andy Burnham immediately praised Mr Healey’s ‘principled’ stance, saying his ‘integrity is beyond question’.
Labour former defence secretaries Lord Hutton and Geoff Hoon broke cover to brand the situation a ‘car crash’ and urge MPs to drop their opposition to curbing welfare to free up cash.
Extraordinarily, a Treasury source suggested Mr Healey had been effectively demanding cuts to schools and hospitals, arguing that Ms Reeves ‘will always do what is right and needed to keep this country safe’.
A Government source tried to shore the PM up this afternoon, saying the ‘country is safe’ because of the decisions he had made.
‘We cut the international aid budget to make record investment in our armed forces, and now the PM is imposing cuts on other government departments to fund billions more,’ the source said.
However, Mr Healey’s deputy Al Carns has also warned the plan is not ‘fit for purpose’, saying Sir Keir has ‘got to sort this out’.
The Defence Secretary had been due to visit Gosport with the Australian deputy PM this morning, but had a showdown with Sir Keir in London instead – then quit.
Downing Street is still scrambling to find a replacement, with security minister Dan Jarvis among those tipped for the job.
No10 had hoped the blueprint to modernise the military and shore up budgets could finally be unveiled this morning, ahead of the PM meeting fellow leaders at an international summit next week.
However, that prospect was humiliatingly dashed as the Treasury and Cabinet ministers play hardball over how to find the funding.
The PM’s inability to get the measures over the line highlights his waning authority, with Mr Burnham widely expected to mount a challenge if he wins the Makerfield by-election next week.
One gloomy Government aide told the Daily Mail there would be no end to the ‘paralysis’ until Sir Keir is replaced.
Kemi Badenoch said it was proof Sir Keir’s ‘premiership is falling apart’. ‘He can’t run the country. He is paralysed because his backbenchers only want to spend money on welfare,’ she said.
John Healey dramatically quit today as Labour’s defence shambles turned into a nightmare
Mr Healey said he could not accept the settlement in the Defence Investment Plan because it did not give the military the ‘resources they need’
Keir Starmer is desperately trying to finalise the Defence Investment Plan, which has been the subject of months of bitter wrangling
It is understood that Ed Miliband has been resisting demands for savings of at least 1 per cent within his Department for Energy Security and Net Zero
As well as a multi-billion pound shortfall in existing budgets, there have been disagreements over how and when targets for increasing spending can be reached.
Defence chiefs had initially flagged a £28billion hole in budgets over the next four years.
Mr Healey suggested that the cracks could be papered over with £18billion. But the Treasury tried to whittle that down to £13.5billion.
Accounting for what was described as ‘Treasury trickery’ over allocations, the real increase on offer is said to be just £10billion over four years.
No timetable has been set for hiking spending to 3.5 per cent, a commitment that was made at the Nato summit last year amid massive pressure from Donald Trump.
Much of the money was expected to come from cuts to capital budgets for other departments.
It is understood that Ed Miliband has been resisting demands for savings of at least 1 per cent within his Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.
That could amount to more than £600million from the capital budget over the five-year spending period – potentially affecting support for heat pumps and carbon capture.
In his resignation letter, Mr Healey said: ‘This new era for defence required further investment through the Defence Investment Plan. The excellent and extensive cross-government work that completed in January – overseen by you, me and the Chancellor – confirmed the scale of the challenge and the rising demands on defence.
‘Since then, 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 added: ‘As I’ve outlined to you, there are credible ways of meeting the mid-term funding challenges, working multi-nationally and as other European nations are doing, to allow us to protect our ability to deliver the missions of our Labour Government.
‘However, your DIP financial settlement – which I was first given in full on Monday afternoon this week – falls well short of what is required for defence and the country at this dangerous time.’
Mr Healey went on: ‘Without a DIP that meets the moment in this way, I am 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.
‘After explaining to you that I would not be able to accept a DIP settlement that does not give our Forces the resources they need, I am now left with no other option than to submit my resignation as your Defence Secretary.’
The letter brought praise from Conservative MPs, with former soldiers Tom Tugendhat and Ben Obese-Jecty describing it as ‘principled’.
Mr Tugendhat, a former defence minister, said the letter ‘states clearly this administration has failed’.
He added: ‘I’ve criticised every party for the state we’re in but the truth is now clear: the complacent confidence in peace is over. We must rearm.’
Labour former minister Jim McMahon, a close ally of Mr Burnham, responded to Mr Healey on X: ‘You were an outstanding Defence Secretary John, and principled from beginning to end.’
Barry Gardiner, another strong Burnham supporter who was campaigning with him in Makerfield this morning, said Mr Healey ‘is one of calmest, most clear-headed, and hard-working ministers I have ever worked with’.
‘His integrity is beyond question and his loss is a body blow to government,’ he added.
Backbencher Jacob Collier said it was ‘hard to argue’ with Mr Healey’s criticisms, saying he was ‘a respected figure in Parliament and within defence’.
Wes Streeting, another potential leadership contender, said: ‘John was an excellent Defence Secretary.
‘Every word of warning here needs to be heeded.’
Serving minister Matthew Pennycook said Mr Healey was a ‘man of deep principle and has been an outstanding Defence Secretary’.
‘I’m saddened that he felt he had no choice but to leave government,’ he added.
Mr Hoon, who served as defence secretary under Tony Blair, told GB News that Labour MPs must now let ministers cut benefits.
‘I would hope that this large intake of Labour MPs looking at the financial position that the government inherited and the financial position that we’re now in might well be saying to themselves, actually we’ve got to look much harder at, for example, the welfare budget,’ he said.
‘We’ve got to look at ways in which we can give the Chancellor and the Prime Minister a degree of headroom that allows them to spend extra money on those other areas that are also vitally needed.
‘Otherwise, I recognise that all governments then face this crunch that they spend so much money on welfare, on health, on education, that there is simply no money left for other departments, and that includes defence.’
Lord Hutton told Times Radio it was a ‘car crash’. ‘In political terms I don’t think you could exaggerate the mess that we’ve found ourselves in.
‘And I think for John’s successor it’s a really difficult choice that he or she is going to face because if the numbers remain the same… it’s not a sufficiently adequate amount of money to do both things that need to be done, which is to point us in the direction of the SDR and its new capabilities that says we need it and also to get us on a pathway to 3.5 per cent of GDP on defence.
‘That dilemma is going to face John Healey’s successor and he or she is going to face a hell of a hurdle to get over on this.’
Tan Dhesi, the Labour chair of the Commons Defence Committee, said it was a ‘grave moment’.
‘That a defence secretary of his integrity and commitment has felt compelled to resign in response to the inadequacy of the proposed defence settlement is a grave moment. The Government must take that warning with the utmost seriousness,’ he said.
‘The Defence Committee has been clear that investment in defence must be accelerated to reach 3 per cent of GDP by the end of this Parliament, and that the Defence Investment Plan cannot be delayed further or used to disguise hard choices.’
Mr Carns – himself thought to be mulling a leadership bid if Sir Keir is unseated – said: ‘John Healey has given this country serious service in a serious time. He took on the Ministry of Defence at a moment when the world was getting more dangerous, not less, and he carried that weight with the discipline and decency that the job demands.
‘I worked alongside him closely. I saw the hours, the care, and the seriousness he brought to every brief, including the hardest ones.
‘There are issues facing this department that do not lend themselves to easy answers.
‘The work on funding, on veterans, on legacy, on the welfare of those who serve.
‘The threats facing this country have not paused for a change of secretary of state. Our Armed Forces remain on operations around the world, standing with our allies, protecting our interests, and keeping the British people safe.
‘They deserve a Ministry of Defence that matches their seriousness with our own. That is the job. It continues today.’
Mr Healey is thought to have urged colleagues not to follow him out of the door to avoid more chaos.
A Government source said: ‘This country is safer because of the decisions Keir Starmer has made and we will continue to act in our national interest.
‘It is this Labour government and this Labour Prime Minister that is delivering the largest sustained boost to defence spending since the Cold War…
‘The Defence Investment Plan will deliver the capability our armed forces need. ‘
A Treasury source said: ‘The Chancellor will always do what is right and needed to keep this country safe.
‘You can see that from her actions – a record uplift in defence spending at the spending review and then working alongside the PM to deliver billions more to fund the defence investment plan in full.’
Mr Healey is the fourth Cabinet minister to leave Sir Keir’s Government and the second to resign over policy differences after Wes Streeting quit as health secretary last month amid the fallout from disastrous local elections.
Even this morning Mr Healey gave no indication of the drama that was to unfold. His day began with a jog through central London with the Australian Deputy Prime Minister as part of the AUKMIN summit.
Hands on hips and smiling happily, Mr Healey posed for photographs with Richard Marles.
They took selfies while standing before the Cenotaph and wearing sports shirts they had exchanged.
Mr Healey gave Mr Marles a replica shirt of the Rotherham Titans, the team representing his constituency, and Mr Marles reciprocated gifting Healey the shirt of the Geelong Cats.
Sir Keir’s allies have been increasingly suspicious of Mr Miliband, amid rumours of a tie-up with Mr Burnham. The Cabinet minister is said to have told the PM previously that he should set a timetable for his departure.
During bad-tempered PMQs clashes yesterday, Sir Keir repeatedly refused to rule out more tax rises to fund a military boost.
And he would only commit to releasing the proposals before the Nato summit on July 7.
Ministers have admitted the plan will not come tomorrow, after Speaker Lindsay Hoyle said it would be a ‘kick in the face’ to do so when MPs are not sitting.
Sir Keir’s allies have been increasingly suspicious of Mr Miliband, amid rumours of a tie-up with Andy Burnham (pictured in Makerfield)
It is unclear whether publication can happen next week, as the PM has engagements outside of the UK.
The Government’s financial room for manoeuvre is limited after a revolt last year torpedoed efforts to curb spiralling sickness benefits.
It emerged last week that Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden privately complained that Labour MPs only cared about who they can ‘tax in order to pay benefits to others’.
