John Healey has suddenly and dramatically resigned as the UK’s Defence Secretary, accusing British Prime Minister Keir Starmer of refusing to fund defence to the level required.
In an eviscerating letter released just hours before he was due to appear before the press at His Majesty’s Naval Base in Portsmouth alongside Australia’s Defence Minister Richard Marles, Mr Healey said Sir Keir was not planning to raise defence spending enough.
“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 said in his letter to Sir Keir.
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He said the Prime Minister’s proposed plan, which he was handed on Monday, only planned to raise defence spending to a level that “falls well short of what is required for defence and for the country at this dangerous time”.
Mr Healey gave no indication of his looming resignation when he appeared at would be his last public appearance as UK Defence Secretary at Lancaster House on Wednesday afternoon, alongside his Australian counterpart Mr Marles as well as UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper and Australia’s Penny Wong.
Britain’s defence industry has been infuriated over the delay to the government’s Defence Investment Plan, saying it cannot invest in long-term programs.
The defence plan is aimed at laying out the funding for military equipment and services to ensure the armed forces move to a state of “war-fighting readiness”, and Sir Keir said on Wednesday it would be published before a NATO summit beginning on July 7.
“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,” Mr Healey said in his letter to Sir Keir.
The resignation makes Mr Healey the sixth Starmer government minister to resign in the last month, presenting yet another hammer blow to an already struggling Labour PM.
However, it is also likely to have major ramifications for the UK’s discussions with Australia on the state of the AUKUS nuclear submarine plan, a pivotal part of the talks which Ms Wong and Mr Marles are currently in the country for right now.
