The Prime Minister has insisted he won’t walk away after his leadership was rocked by a double resignation, as ITV News Political Correspondent Carl Dinnen reports from Westminster
Prime Minister Keir Starmer has defended his decisions on military funding following the resignations of both the defence secretary and the minister for armed forces.
“I have taken the difficult decisions to make sure that we are safe as a country, because that is my number one priority,” Starmer said, addressing the resignations for the first time.
John Healey resigned from his cabinet role on Thursday, saying the prime minister had “been unable… to commit the resources that the nation needs to defend the country”.
He added: “I am being forced to make a decision that would reduce the readiness of our Forces and increase the risk to personnel on operations, and could make the country less safe.”
Asked about this criticism of funding choices, the PM told the BBC: “We have another spending review coming up and before the end of this Parliament, and defence will be a number one priority in that space.”
A spokesperson for the PM ruled out borrowing as an option to fund defence but did not rule out tax rises in the future.
He insisted this was not an empty promise, saying: “It’s very important that when I make commitments on something as important as defence that I’m able to point to what the funding is.”
He added: “I’ve tackled it head on and I have taken the decision to reallocate from other departments. That’s not easy.”
Starmer also disagreed with former senior military figures who supported Healey and said the government were not spending enough on defence.
Asked about comments by General Sir Richard Barrons and General Sir James Everard about funding and Britain’s standing in Nato, the Prime Minister told the BBC: “I have the highest respect for the individuals that you have quoted, but I don’t agree.
“These are hard-edged decisions and we are seen as a leading member of Nato.”
Defence will be “a number one priority” at the next spending review, Sir Keir Starmer said.
Under Secretary of War in the US, Elbridge Colby weighed in on the resignation on social media, saying “there is a great need for more British military strength at this critical time” and urged the UK to act.
Earlier on Friday, the former armed forces minister has said it should not be a choice between “welfare or warfare”, when it comes to decision-making around defence investment.
Speaking to Good Morning Britain on Friday, Al Carns said the government needs to “be innovative to find the money to put into the defence industry”.
Carns said: “We need to give out armed forces the kit and equipment that they require” and said that the Defence Investment Plan (DIP) was not enough.
He went on to say that the government has not “learned lessons from Ukraine”.
The investment plan was largely viewed as a legacy project for the prime minister, who was due to appear in Swindon on Friday to launch the long-awaited DIP.
A spokesperson for Number 10 confirmed that the DIP would be released before the Nato summit on 7th July.
Dan Jarvis has now been appointed as the new Defence Secretary, stepping up from his position as security minister.
In a statement, Starmer said he was pleased to make the appointment at a time when the government was working to “meet the growing threats facing our country”.
He wrote: “My first duty is to keep the British people safe, and I will always do what is necessary to protect our national security.”
Speaking to the BBC on Friday, the PM said he needed to “turn things around” but insisted he wanted to lead Labour into the next election.
He said: “I’ve always been clear that that’s what I want to do.
“But look, I recognise that given where we are, I need to turn that around and that’s what I intend to do.”
Starmer confirmed that he would fight any leadership challenge out of “a sense of service and duty” and not “vanity” or “stubbornness”.
“I’m not going to go away,” he said. “I don’t think we should plunge the country into the chaos of a leadership election.”
He added: “I don’t think it should happen, but if it does then I will fight.”
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The former armed forces minister, Al Carns has not ruled out a potential bid for the Labour leadership, with mounting pressure on the PM.
Carns said he hadn’t received his P45 from the last job and said “we’ll see what happens in the future”.
Under Labour party rules, if the current leader does not resign, they are automatically added to the ballot for leadership and do not require the public endorsement from 81 MP’s that other challengers require.
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