UK defence minister quits with stinging rebuke of PM Starmer

By Joe Jackson and Peter Hutchison, AFP

(FILES) Britain’s Defence Secretary John Healey arrives at Downing Street to attend a cabinet meeting in central London on May 12, 2026. British Defence Secretary John Healey resigned on June 11, 2026, in a surprise move which he said was due to Prime Minister Keir Starmer and his finance ministry failing to commit sufficient resources to long-term defence plans. — British Defence Secretary John Healey resigned on June 11, 2026, in a surprise move which he said was due to Prime Minister Keir Starmer and his finance ministry failing to commit sufficient resources to long-term defence plans. Photo: BROOK MITCHELL / AFP

British Defence Secretary John Healey sensationally quit on Thursday (UK time), accusing beleaguered Prime Minister Keir Starmer and the finance ministry of failing to commit enough money to protect the country.

His shock resignation weakens Starmer’s authority further at a precarious moment for the embattled Labour leader, a week before a by-election which could prompt a bid to replace him.

In stinging criticism, Healey warned that Starmer’s long-awaited Defence Investment Plan (DIP) for funding over the next decade — which the premier has yet to publish — risked making Britain “less safe”.

“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,” Healey wrote in a resignation letter to Starmer posted on his X account.

“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.”

Healey’s sudden departure comes after months of delays to the defence plan, which Starmer has insisted he will publish before a NATO summit in Turkey beginning on 7 July.

Starmer’s centre-left government, elected in July 2024 following 14 years of Conservative rule, has pledged to ramp up defence spending, with priority given to NATO commitments.

The rise comes amid threats from Russia and as US President Donald Trump repeatedly urges NATO allies to spend more and become less reliant on Washington for security.

‘Grave moment’

Starmer has vowed to raise defence spending to 2.5 percent of gross domestic product from next year, increasing to three percent if Labour wins the next general election, expected in 2029, before reaching 3.5 percent in 2035.

Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer takes part in a signing ceremony of a UK-Poland defence and security treaty with Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk (not pictured) at the Battle of Britain Bunker in Uxbridge, west London on May 27, 2026. The treaty is expected to reinforce defence cooperation between the two countries. (Photo by Jack Taylor / POOL / AFP) — Beleaguered British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Photo: AFP / JACK TAYLOR

British media has for weeks been reporting on behind-the-scenes battles within the government over the DIP settlement.

In his resignation letter, Healey said he was first given full sight of DIP on Monday and it sees defence spending rise to only 2.68 percent of GDP in 2030.

A source close to the former defence secretary told AFP the deal offered by the Treasury did not put a date on the three percent commitment.

The plan “falls well short of what is required for defence and the country at this dangerous time”, Healey wrote.

“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.”

Tan Dhesi, chair of parliament’s defence committee, said the government must take Healey’s warning “with the utmost seriousness”.

“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 Labour MP said in a statement.

Starmer faces political peril in next Thursday’s contest when Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham stands for the Makerfield parliamentary seat. Both men have said they would participate in any Labour leadership race, although none has yet been triggered.

Wes Streeting quit as health secretary last month following disastrous local and regional election results for Labour and has also said he would run in any future contest.

Healey, 66, has been previously talked about as another potential contender, but there was no immediate suggestion that his resignation is linked to the leadership speculation.

It “underlines that Starmer has become a lame duck prime minister who cannot get decisions through his own government”, Patrick Diamond, a politics professor at Queen Mary University of London, told AFP.

The investment plan, originally due to be published in late 2025, has repeatedly been pushed back, to the frustration of industry and others.

Healey’s resignation “creates a sequence of political headaches in terms of a replacement, and trying to get the defence investment plan published,” said Ed Arnold, senior associate fellow at the RUSI think-tank.

A government source insisted that Starmer had made Britain “safer”, adding the defence spending proposals “will deliver the capability our armed forces need”.

- AFP