U.K. Defense Secretary John Healey unexpectedly quit on Thursday, saying the federal government is unwilling to spend enough on the military at a time of “rising threats.” The resignation dealt one other blow to embattled Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who’s already facing demands from Labour colleagues to step down.
Healey told Starmer in a letter that the federal government’s Defense Investment Plan falls “well in need of what’s required at this dangerous time.”
Publication of the plan has been delayed amid reports of disagreement between the Defense Ministry and the Treasury.
Starmer said in a letter to Healey that he was sorry to see him go, but insisted that the funding plan would supply the mandatory military resources to maintain the UK protected.
“The increases in spending that underpin this plan shall be sustainable and fair,” Starmer said. “They’ll mean significant reallocations of funding from across government departments and the correct selections to guard our nation.”
Healey was followed out the door several hours later by Al Carns, a decorated war veteran who served as a outstanding junior minister within the Defense Ministry. Carns has been suggested as a possible contender within the anticipated contest to challenge Starmer’s leadership.
Critics say defense spending boost is just too little, too late
Starmer has pledged to spice up U.K. defense spending to 2.5% of gross domestic product by 2027 and three% by 2035. But many within the military say that isn’t fast enough.
“You will have been unable, and the Treasury has been unwilling, to commit the resources that the nation must defend the country right now of rising threats,” Healey wrote in his resignation letter.
He said that the spending plan recommend by the Treasury, and presented to him on Monday, would see defense spending rise to only 2.68% in 2030, after hitting 2.6% next 12 months.
Healey said that isn’t enough with growing demands on defense and British military commitments, citing the Iran war, Russia’s all-out invasion of Ukraine and threats from Moscow.
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“I’m now left with no other option than to submit my resignation,” he said.
Gen. Richard Barrons, who helped lead a defense review that underpins the investment plan, said the federal government is “actively going backwards” by refusing to fund its own review.
“It diminishes the U.K.’s standing inside NATO, weakens our credibility with allies, and increases our vulnerability to the realities of Twenty first-century conflict,” he said. “Allies and adversaries alike shall be being attentive.”
The federal government said that it was delivering “the biggest sustained boost to defense spending because the Cold War.”
“This country is safer due to the selections Keir Starmer has made and we’ll proceed to act in our national interest,” it said in an announcement.
Healey is taken into account a protected pair of hands
Healey has been U.K. defense secretary because the Labour Party government was elected in July 2024, and he’s thought to be a capable and serious minister.
He has played a key role in bolstering international support for Ukraine and assembling a multinational coalition to assist guarantee security if a ceasefire is reached. Healey also has helped spearhead a maritime security force that may help keep the Strait of Hormuz open to shipping if the Iran war ends.
The UK and other NATO member nations have faced pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump to extend military spending. Trump has long questioned the worth of the military alliance and complained that the US provides security to European countries that don’t pull their weight.
The U.K. military can be in search of to reverse years of decline within the face of an increasingly assertive Russia, which fully invaded its neighbor Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, and increasingly tests the defenses of European nations with overt and covert activity.
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte, informed of Healey’s resignation by The Associated Press during a news conference in Brussels, said that Healey is someone “I respect very much.”
“What we’re seeing all around the alliance is countries increasing their defense investments, and naturally it just isn’t easy, because ultimately there may be at all times a trade-off with other expenses, that are also essential,” Rutte said.
Healey’s resignation is more likely to further stoke talk that Starmer’s days as prime minister are numbered. Already bruised by a series of missteps since Labour returned to power lower than two years ago, Starmer has faced calls inside his party’s ranks to face down.
In an indication of his waning authority, Starmer appears to have been unable to bridge the gap between Healey’s department and Treasury chief Rachel Reeves over defense spending.
Olivia O’Sullivan, head of the U.K. within the World program on the Chatham House think tank, said the resignation “significantly undermines Starmer,” especially because the prime minister has had “a comparatively assured track record on defense and foreign affairs.”
Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham is widely expected to challenge Starmer for the leadership, if he returns to Parliament in a June 18 special election.
Justin Crump, a former British tank commander who heads security consultancy Sibylline, said that Healey’s resignation “shouldn’t have been allowed to occur in a well-run government.”
“It just further underlines a scarcity of control here, a scarcity of clarity, a scarcity of resolution, a niche between words and delivery,” he said.
Associated Press journalists Mark Carlson in Brussels and Pan Pylas in London contributed to this report.
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