John Healey resigns latest: Starmer government thrown into chaos as defence secretary quits over military spending – UK Times

Our politics editor David Maddox reports:

The foreign secretary Yvette Cooper was on resignation watch after John Healey’s dramatic departure as defence secretary.

But a source close to the foreign secretary has denied that she will go despite increasing speculation among Labour MPs.

The source pointed out that Ms Cooper was at the foreign secretary’s official residence Chevening “and done a bunch of interviews today”.

Ms Cooper is already believed to have told Sir Keir Starmer that he needs to quit as prime minister while she has also spent the last two days talking defence spending with Mr Healey and their Australian counterparts.

A veteran presence on Labour’s frontbench, Mr Healey had served as defence chief since Sir Keir assumed the party leadership in 2020, initially in the shadow cabinet and then retaining the position following Labour’s decisive general election victory in 2024.

Our politics editor David Maddox reports:

While the top line of defence spending showed a significant increase in the Budget red book the facts have been that since the first Budget in 2024 by Rachel Reeves there have been cuts behind the scenes with a loss in available money.

The biggest problem was that the substantial pay rise for military personnel agreed when Labour took power – along with big pay rises across the board in the public sector – was not funded by the Treasury.

Instead the Ministry of Defence (MoD) was told it needed to find the money itself to fund the inflation busting wage increases.

That meant real terms cuts to actual defence were taking place within a department which officially had more money.

There were stories of teas and coffees being banned from meetings to save the pennies.

The one story which summed up the problem was the delay in sending HMS Dragon to protect Cyprus after Trump’s war with Iran broke out.

The issue there was that overtime payments had been ended delaying the refit of the destroyer and adding time before it could set sail.

Our politics editor David Maddox reports:

The Independent has been told that the foreign secretary Yvette Cooper is now on resignation watch after John Healey’s dramatic departure as defence secretary.

Labour MPs have noted that Ms Cooper is “very, very unhappy” with the direction of the government under Sir Keir Starmer and has already told him he needs to set a timetable for his departure as prime minister.

It has also been pointed out that the foreign secretary has been in a room for the last two days talking defence spending with Mr Healey and their Australian counterparts.

Now she will have to stand by a failure to meet commitments on defence if she stays.

One MP told The Independent: “John [Healey] will not be the last to quit.”

Another added that Ms Cooper “is definitely on resignation watch.”

Our Whitehall editor Kate Devlin reports:

Former defence minister Tobias Ellwood told The Independent Mr Healey’s resignation “will spotlight the state of UK defence and rising threats, which is no bad thing.”

But he warned that “across Nato this will raise eyebrows. Britain’s centuries-old reputation of procuring the strongest military in Europe… has gone.”

Our political correspondent Millie Cooke has the latest here:

John Healey’s resignation leaves the country “more in danger than it was already”, a former head of the Royal Navy has warned.

Lord Alan West, a Labour peer and former first sea lord, said Mr Healey’s resignation was “very, very sad news and very worrying news, because John Healey is an extremely good man, he understands defence, he has been a good secretary of state for defence, and the fact someone like that has gone speaks volumes”.

He added: “Our nation is standing more in danger than it was already”.

Lord West told PA: “I thought that Keir Starmer understood, because he has said all the right words not just to us but also to other countries as well, yet clearly he can’t tell his Chancellor what he wants in terms of spending the right money.”

But he said he thought the prime minister should remain in post, saying a leadership election would be “bloody stupid” and “a bloody disaster”.

He said: “I would leave him where he is, but he needs to knuckle down and deliver on defence.”

The Independent’s political editor David Maddox writes:

With John Healey making his shock resignation announcement it is hard to know who would want to replace him.

As we wait for the name we know that Sir Keir Starmer had to ask at least three people to be health secretary after Wes Streeting quit before James Murray took the job.

In a government devoid of life waiting for the finishing blow there is little enthusiasm to take on even the great jobs of state.

Added to that whoever comes in will essentially be asking to defend the indefensible. That is saying that defence in a dangerous world is not a priority while trying to justify the failure to fund it properly.

That is the sort of black mark on a political CV nobody truly ambitious wants.

Kemi Badenoch has said John Healey’s damning resignation has laid bare “the war behind the scenes” in the government.

The Conservative Party leader told MPs Labour’s backbenches and remaining ministers that they must “take a good, long hard look at what they’re doing to our armed forces and to our country”.

“Labour is not funding defence because they want to spend all their money on welfare,” she said.

“They’re taxing everybody to pay for welfare and this cannot go on.

“The Labour backbenches and even the rest of the cabinet need to take a good, long hard look at what they’re doing to our armed forces and to our country.”

She said Healey had “exposed the war that is going on behind the scenes” and shown Sir Keir Starmer is “too weak to make difficult decisions or to face down his backbenchers.”