Dan Jarvis becomes UK defence secretary after John Healey resigns over Defence Investment Plan funding

Dan Jarvis is the new defence secretary.Dan Jarvis has been appointed the new defence secretary following John Healey’s resignation.The former Parachute Regiment officer has been security minister since the general election in 2024.Healey dramatically quit on Thursday morning in protest at the amount of money being provided by No.10 and the Treasury in the Defence Investment Plan (DIP).In a blistering letter to the prime minister, he said he had been left with “no other option” after learning that defence spending will go up from 2.6% of gross domestic product (GDP) next year to just 2.68% in 2030.It is understood that amounted to an extra £13.5 billion, less than half of the £28bn army chiefs said they needed.Healey said the funding settlement would force him “to make decisions that would reduce the readiness of our Forces and increase the risk to personnel on operations, and could make the country less safe”.But in his reply, Starmer said he was “proud of our record on funding”.The PM insisted the DIP “will provide the resources our military needs to keep us safe and the clarity the British defence industry needs to plan”.“It will make the big strategic investments we need for the long term and give the certainty which private finance needs to invest,” he added.“It will allow our armed forces to transform and modernise and back them with the tools they need to change the way we fight – and to deter our enemies.”Jarvis served in Northern Ireland, Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan during his time in the Army.He was elected MP for Barnsley Central in 2011, and has represented Barnsley North since 2024 following changes to constituency boundaries.He was promoted to the cabinet less than an hour after junior defence minister Al Carns also quit in protest at the Defence Investment Plan.In a coruscating resignation letter to the PM, he said he could not defend “a level of investment I know to be inadequate to the task”.Carns said: “I have sat in the rooms, seen the assessments, and spoken to the commanders 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.”Earlier, Labour MP Pamela Nash, who was John Healey’s parliamentary aide, also resigned.She said: “The defence of our nation is the most important responsibility for any government. The delays and difficulties with securing the necessary funding to progress the defence investment plan has been the latest issue that is damaging to the trust of the public in us.“We saw this laid bare in last month’s election results. Our Government’s successes are consistently drowned out by mistakes and the failure to be bold when it matters most.“Our country is more divided now than it has ever been in my lifetime, and our political opponents are both the provokers and the beneficiaries.“If we cannot provide a strong vision for the UK’s future, and enact a clear, progressive route to get there, then we are allowing the unthinkable: for those opponents to take power. We must do better.”Subscribe to Commons People, the podcast that makes politics easy. Every week, Kevin Schofield and Kate Nicholson unpack the week’s biggest stories to keep you informed. Join us for straightforward analysis of what’s going on at Westminster.Related...Keir Starmer Insists Government Is Spending Enough On Defence After John Healey QuitsDefence Secretary John Healey Resigns After Spending Bust-Up With Keir StarmerAnalysis: John Healey's Brutal Resignation Is The Final Nail In Keir Starmer's Coffin

John Healey’s complaint is that Starmer sat on this problem for months before making a derisory offerUK politics live – latest updatesJohn Healey’s resignation as defence secretary on Thursday was a long time brewing, though in the end the denouement was swift. It leaves an already weak Keir Starmer without a defence strategy less than a month before a Nato summit and an unresolved row about spending as Donald Trump threatens to restart the bombing of Iran.On Monday, No 10 finally told Healey how much more money it was prepared to give the Ministry of Defence to fund major projects as part of the defence investment plan (Dip). Its programmes include the £41bn Dreadnought submarine replacement for Trident – and a mooted investment in drones, ready for a future Ukraine-style war. Continue reading...

The party stalwart’s blistering attack is not just a problem for the prime minister – it makes the task of a successor far harderJohn Healey’s resignation as defence secretary on Thursday morning was genuinely shocking. Mr Healey is not just a veteran minister, but a Labour loyalist who previously served both Tony Blair and Jeremy Corbyn. In an interview in March, he observed that he didn’t toil to rebuild confidence in Labour “just to see that wasted with internal chatter and commentary”.Now he has maximised external chatter with a withering denunciation of the prime minister and chancellor. In his resignation letter, Mr Healey said that Sir Keir Starmer was “unable” and the Treasury “unwilling” to provide the budget needed to protect the UK – forcing him to make decisions that increased the risk to personnel and could make the country less safe. Having spent years rebuilding Labour’s credibility on national security, he appears to be demolishing it, weeks before Sir Keir faces a Nato summit. Doubtless he feels the damage was done by the repeated failure to publish the defence investment plan (DIP) – originally due last autumn – or match the armed forces’ expectations.Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer, lef and Defence Secretary John Healey stand in front of a UK Typhoon fighter jet at Tusas airbase, in Ankara, Turkey, Monday, Oct. 27, 2025. (Stefan Rousseau/Pool Photo via AP)Keir Starmer has hit back at John Healey by insisting the government’s spending plans will provide enough cash for the UK’s armed forces.The prime minister said he was “sorry” that Healey had resigned as defence secretary and rejected his reasons for doing so.Healey stunned Westminster on Thursday morning by unexpectedly announcing he was quitting the cabinet in protest at the amount of money No.10 and the Treasury were making available in the long-delayed Defence Investment Plan (DIP).In a blistering letter to the prime minister, he said he had been left with “no other option” after learning that defence spending will go up from 2.6% of gross domestic product (GDP) next year to just 2.68% in 2030.It is understood that amounted to an extra £13.5 billion, less than half of the £28bn army chiefs said they needed.Healey said the funding settlement would force him “to make decisions that would reduce the readiness of our Forces and increase the risk to personnel on operations, and could make the country less safe”.But in his reply, Starmer said he was “proud of our record on funding”.He said: “When we entered government in 2024, I took the decision to increase defence spending after the Conservatives hollowed out our armed forces.“That required a cut to the international aid budget but the result was the highest sustained increase in defence spending since the Cold War. I will always do what is needed to keep our country safe.“I thank you for your work to deliver on all of this. You are also right that we have to go further. The Defence Investment Plan does just that— delivering an unprecedented increase in defence spending in a sustainable way.”“It will provide the resources our military needs to keep us safe and the clarity the British defence industry needs to plan. It will make the big strategic investments we need for the long term and give the certainty which private finance needs to invest.“It will allow our armed forces to transform and modernise and back them with the tools they need to change the way we fight – and to deter our enemies.”The PM added: “Taking these decisions is never easy I am determined to rebuild our country after years of being buffeted by crises.“I am sorry that you will not be part of that work going forward.”Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said his resignation showed Starmer’s “premiership is falling apart”.She said: “His health secretary resigned two weeks ago. His defence secretary has resigned at a critical time when we are facing global threats, and he is doing so because the prime minister is trying to please his backbenchers by putting money into welfare instead of defence.”Subscribe to Commons People, the podcast that makes politics easy. Every week, Kevin Schofield and Kate Nicholson unpack the week’s biggest stories to keep you informed. Join us for straightforward analysis of what’s going on at Westminster.Related...Defence Secretary John Healey Resigns After Spending Bust-Up With Keir StarmerAnalysis: John Healey's Brutal Resignation Is The Final Nail In Keir Starmer's Coffin

Keir Starmer and John Healey last year.Defence secretary John Healey has resigned following a bust-up with Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves over spending on Britain’s armed forces.In a blistering letter to the prime minister, he said he had been left with “no other option” after disagreement over the government’s long-delayed Defence Investment Plan (DIP).As well as Starmer, he also accused the chancellor of blocking his pleas for more money for the Ministry of Defence.He revealed that No.10 and the Treasury wanted to increase defence spending from 2.6% of gross domestic product (GDP) next year to just 2.68% in 2030 – well short of the 3% Healey wanted.Healey said: “This new era for defence required further investment through the Defence Investment Plan.“The excellent and extensive cross-government work that completed in January – overseen by you, me and the chancellor – confirmed the scale of the challenge and the rising demands on defence.“Since then, you have been unable, and the Treasury has been unwilling, to commit the resources that the nation needs to defend the country at this time of rising threats.”He said that “demands on defence have increased still further”, pointing to the Iran war, threats from Russia and escalation in the Ukraine conflict.Healey said his resignation letter was one “I never expected to write, and I do so now with great regret and reluctance”.He said the proposed DIP, which he was shown on Monday afternoon, “falls well sort of what is required for defence and the country at this dangerous time”.“You know what defence needs,” Healey said. “You made the argument for this powerfully in your speech at the Munich Security Conference back in February.“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 the 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.”This is a breaking news story and will be updated. Follow HuffPost UK on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.Related...Starmer 'Getting On With The Job' As Andy Burnham Prepares To Oust Him As PMDefence Secretary John Healey Won't Say If The UK Backs US And Israeli Strikes On IranJohn Healey Issues Key Warning After Trump And Putin Agreed To Start Ukraine Peace Talks