LONDON — U.K.Defense Secretary John Healey unexpectedly quit on Thursday, saying the government is unwilling to spend enough on the military at a time of “rising threats.” The resignation dealt another blow to embattled Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who is already facing demands from Labour colleagues to step down.Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.Healey told Starmer in a letter that the government’s Defense Investment Plan falls “well short of what is required at this dangerous time.”Publication of the plan has been delayed amid reports of disagreement between the Defense Ministry and the Treasury.Healey was followed out the door several hours later by Al Carns, a decorated war veteran who served as a prominent junior minister in the defense ministry.
He said he could not defend “a level of investment I know to be inadequate to the task.” Carns has been suggested as a possible contender in the anticipated contest to challenge Starmer’s leadership.Starmer said in a letter to Healey that he was sorry to see him go, but insisted that the funding plan would provide “sustainable and fair” spending increases that would keep the U.K.safe.Late Thursday the prime minister appointed Dan Jarvis, formerly the security minister, to the defense secretary post.Critics say too little, too lateStarmer has pledged to boost U.K.
defense spending to 2.5% of gross domestic product by 2027 and 3% by 2035.But many in the military say that isn’t fast enough.“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,” Healey wrote in his resignation letter.He said that the spending plan put forward by the Treasury, and presented to him on Monday, would see defense spending rise to just 2.68% in 2030, after hitting 2.6% next year.Healey said that isn’t enough with growing demands on defense an...