Two ministers resign over defence spending in major blow to Starmer's leadership

Dan Jarvis has been appointed as the new defence secretary following John Healey's resignation earlier on Thursday in a dispute over military funding. His resignation was shortly followed by that of his Parliamentary Private Secretary, Pamela Nash, and Armed Forces Minister Al Carns, the latter of whom laid into the government more broadly, saying: "The machinery of government itself has been left to decay". A former soldier, Jarvis was first elected as an MP in 2011 and held a variety of shadow front bench roles before serving on the Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy in 2017. In 2018, he was elected as the first Mayor of South Yorkshire, and after leaving the mayoralty, he was appointed Shadow Security Minister in September 2023. In a statement released after Jarvis' appointment, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said he was pleased to make the appointment, as the government works 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. “I am pleased to appoint Dan Jarvis as Defence Secretary as we strengthen our armed forces and meet the growing threats facing our country. “This Labour government is delivering the largest sustained increase in defence spending since the Cold War. “In a dangerous and volatile world, we will give our armed forces the capabilities they need to defend Britain and keep our nation secure.” Healey resigned after a row with the prime minister over military spending, accusing the PM of making the country "less safe". He wrote to Sir Keir Starmer to resign from the position with "great regret and reluctance", citing disagreements about defence spending ahead of the release of the delayed Defence Investment Plan (DIP). Healey said the prime minister has "been unable... to commit the resources that the nation needs to defend the country" and that he has "no other option" but to resign. 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."