John Healey dramatically quit today accusing Keir Starmer of failing to ‘defend the country’.
The Defence Secretary announced he was resigning with a brutal parting shot at the PM after months of bitter wrangling over 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 was equivalent to around £10billion extra, far short of what had been urged.
Swiping at the PM and Chancellor Rachel Reeves, 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.’
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’. But he made clear he is not about to follow his former boss out of the door, insisting ‘threats facing this country have not paused for a change of Secretary of State’.
The seismic news further loosens Sir Keir’s tenuous grip on control of the Government, as rivals circle to deliver a killer blow.
A key ally of Andy Burnham immediately praised Mr Healey’s ‘principled’ stance. The Defence Secretary had been due to visit Gosport with the Australian deputy PM this morning, but returned to London for a showdown with Sir Keir instead – then quit.
No10 had hoped the blueprint to fill a black hole in 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.
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.’
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.’
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 rugby league 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’.
