BERLIN — The British Secretary of State for Defence, John Healey, resigned from office today, warning that the government’s defense funding plan was insufficient and “could make the country less safe.”
The surprise move came in a letter Healey posted on X, in which he praised Prime Minister Keir Starmer for recognizing the threats to the homeland, but said Starmer, along with the ministry of the Treasury, failed to adequately provide funding to take them on in the forthcoming and much-delayed Defence Investment Plan (DIP).
“You know what defence needs,” Healey wrote. “[…] Without a DIP that meets the moment in this way, I am being forced to make decisions that would reduce the readiness of our Forces and increase risk to personnel on operations, and could make the country less safe.
“After explaining to you that I would not be able to accept a DIP settlement that does not give our Forces the resources they need, I am now left with no other option than to submit my resignation as your Defence Secretary,” he said.
By the end of the day, the government announced that Dan Jarvis had been tapped as Healey’s successor.
Hours after Healy’s announcement, a second member of Starmer’s security team, Minister for the Armed Forces Al Carns, followed suit.
Carns, who retired as a Colonel in the Royal Marines, was decorated for his service in Afghanistan and served as an advisor to several UK defence secretaries. Elected as a Labour MP in 2024, he quickly joined Starmer’s team, first as Minister for Veterans and People at the moD and then in his current role, where he oversaw a number of force development efforts.
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In a letter posted to X, Carns wrote “I have sat in the rooms, seen the assessments, and spoken to the commander who will be asked to do more with less, and I cannot in good conscience stand at the dispatch box and defend a level of investment I know to be inadequate to the task. A serious country funds its defence to meet the threat it actually faces, not the threat it wishes it faced.”
“We need a new way of governing and we need it now,” Carns later wrote, adding “The deal this country makes with the people who serve it, in uniform, in classrooms, on building sites, is broken. I’m going to spend my time on the backbenches trying to fix it.”
Ben Wallace, a member of the opposition Conservative party who served as Defence Secretary from 2019-2023, responded to Carns’ statement bluntly.
“Al was one of my very best commanders when i was in post. The MOD needs him. This Government needs his knowledge and leadership,” he wrote on X. “If no.10 wont listen to him and Healey we really are screwed.”
The resignations come as the UK Treasury, Britain’s budget office and the Ministry of Defence have argued over costs of additional defense spending. Healey sought a settlement of £18 billion ($24 billion), but Rachel Reeves, chancellor of the Exchequer, has long declined to approve anything more than £12 billion, according to The Guardian newspaper.
The outlet reported on Tuesday that Healey had pressed his cabinet counterpart to agree on a compromise of £15 billion, partly funded by other departments reducing their budgets by an estimated 1 percent.
Kevin Craven, CEO of the UK aerospace and defense trade body ADS Group, said in comments to media that Healey’s resignation is “something to lament, and is truly a damning reflection on the current state of affairs.”
“The consequences for the UK, and indeed our allies, of getting our Defence Investment Plan wrong — as now seems certain — are of a magnitude far beyond our worst fears,” he said. “National security and defence of the realm is not an accountant’s job.”
He urged that the IDP be published “as soon as possible.” The document, which is due to breakdown British procurement priorities and cuts over the next 10 years, is expected to be released next week.
Among key decisions set to be laid out is whether to take forward a proposal, included in the 2025 Strategic Defence Review, to acquire a fleet of F-35A fifth generation fighter jets, capable of carrying nuclear weapons.
UPDATED 6/11/26 at 3:58 pm ET with Carns’ resignation.