Defence secretary’s resignation exposes a Chancellor guilty of chronic indecision and catastrophic misjudgment Daily Telegraph 11/06/26 link She has already presided over a huge surge in unemployment, a collapse in business confidence, and a jump in the amount the Government has to pay for borrowing. No one, even in the Labour Party, would claim that Rachel Reeves has a great record as Chancellor. But now she is accused of something far more serious. As the devastating resignation letter from John Healey, defence secretary, made clear, she has left the country defenceless – and the Prime Minister surely now has no choice but to sack her. Everyone agrees that Britain urgently needs to increase its defence spending. With a war raging in Ukraine and another one in The Gulf, and with the United States losing interest in Europe, we need more kit and manpower to protect the country. And yet one point emerges with total clarity from Healey’s letter: the Chancellor is refusing to make ...
Defence Secretary steps down in protest over investment plan that ‘falls short of what is required’ Daily Telegraph 11/ ohn Healey has resigned as defence secretary over Sir Keir Starmer’s defence investment plan. Mr Healey announced that he would step down in a letter to the Prime Minister on Thursday. He wrote that the plan, expected to be revealed as soon as Friday, “falls well short of what is required for defence”. Here is Mr Healey’s resignation letter in full. Dear Keir, This is a letter I never expected to write, and I do so now with great regret and reluctance. I am proud of what we have done in less than two years as a Labour Government. We’ve stepped up to lead internationally for Ukraine with the Coalition of the Willing and Ukraine Defence Contact Group, established Britain as a leading voice for Europe in Nato, raised defence investment to 2.5 per cent of GDP three years earlier than anyone expected, launched the deepest defence reforms in 50 years, won the bigges...