Keir Starmer newest: PM shaken to core after two defence ministers stop with devastating assault

Keir Starmer was dealt another blow after his Armed Forces minister resigned – hours after the departure of the Defence Secretary.

Al Carns, a former Royal Marine, quit his post with a withering broadside criticising “inadequate” defence funding. He said the “machinery of government itself has been left to decay”, hitting out at long delays to the Defence Investment Plan (DIP).

It follows the shock resignation of Defence Secretary John Healey, triggering a crisis in the Ministry of Defence. Pamela Nash, a ministerial aide in the department, also resigned tonight, and Rachel Hopkins, another aide, is believed to have walked.

In his resignation letter to the Prime Minister, Mr Carns said: “We ask soldiers to fight for this country, In return, we owe them the kit to do the job and the loyalty to stand by them when it’s done. We are failing on both. The same failure of seriousness runs through how this country treats the people it asks the most of, in uniform and out of it.”

READ MORE: Keir Starmer faces fresh blow as Al Carns becomes second defence minister to quit