Sir Keir Starmer suffered a massive blow after John Healey and Al Carns quit their ministerial roles following a row over defence spending. He insists he ‘will fight’ any challenge
Embattled Sir Keir Starmer desperately scrambled to defend himself in the face of mounting friendly fire over military spending. The Prime Minister took a further blow after armed forces minister Al Carns followed defence secretary John Healey in quitting over the furious funding row.
Labour MP Mr Carns said the defence investment plan (DIP) was not “transformative enough” and looked backward rather than forward. The highly-decorated Royal Marines officer, who traded his military career for Westminster, said there were problems with both funding and the type of military equipment being bought.
Asked if his was a resignation due to a matter of principle or because of his ambition, he said: “My whole career has been put to service. If I wanted to be ambitious, I wouldn’t have got into politics.”
Labour MP Graham Stringer claimed Sir Keir is a “dead Prime Minister walking”. And a senior Labour adviser said: “This isn’t the beginning of the end, it has gone way beyond that.”
Two defence ministerial aides, Pamela Nash and Rachel Hopkins, also resigned in another blow to Sir Keir’s fragile leadership. Sir Keir defended his record on military funding following the resignations.
He said: “I have taken the difficult decisions to make sure that we are safe as a country, because that is my number one priority.” Sir Keir also insisted that he “will fight” any leadership challenge, not out of “stubbornness” or “vanity” but from “deep sense of duty”.
He said: “I’m not going to go away. I don’t think we should plunge the country into the chaos of a leadership election. I don’t think it should happen, but if it does then I will fight.” Yet the PM admitted that he has “got to turn things around” if he is going to remain as Prime Minister.
Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham hopes to return to Westminster in next week’s Makerfield by-election and has made no secret of his Labour leadership ambitions.
New Defence Secretary Dan Jarvis and Chief of the Defence Staff Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton have met Sir Keir for talks. Downing Street said the Dip was still being finalised but did not say if Mr Jarvis had been offered more funding for taking up the role. A No 10 spokeswoman said: “The Prime Minister has been clear that he is determined to publish it before the Nato summit in July.”