Starmer admits he must ‘turn things around’ as Healey and Carns resignations rock his leadership

Sir Keir Starmer has admitted he needs to “turn things around” to remain prime minister and lead Labor into the next general election as his authority faces a fresh blow.

This follows the resignation of Defense Minister John Healey and Armed Forces Minister Al Carns, as well as two deputy ministers, over the long-delayed Defense Investment Plan (Dip).

But the prime minister insisted defense spending was a priority, saying he had taken the “tough decisions” necessary to keep the country safe.

The departures come at a perilous time for Sir Keir, whose premiership has looked increasingly fragile since May’s election results in England, Wales and Scotland.

Exacerbating his difficulties, Andy Burnham, who is hoping for a Westminster return in next week’s Makerfield by-election, has publicly declared his bid for the Labor leadership.

Former health minister Wes Streeting is also set to take part in any competitions.

Sir Keir said: “I don’t think we should throw the country into leadership election chaos” but told the BBC he would fight any challenge.

“I don’t think it should happen, but if it does, I will fight,” he said.

“And let me be clear with you. This is not about personal arrogance, it is not about stubbornness. It comes from a very deep sense of duty.”

Asked if he would lead Labor at the next general election, expected in 2029, he said: “That’s what I want to do.

“I realize I have to turn things around. We’ve had a very bad election.”

In his resignation letter on Thursday, Mr Healey said the prime minister was “incapable and the Treasury was unwilling” to provide adequate funding for the Dip.

Military chiefs had called for around £28bn in aid over four years, while officials in Whitehall had requested a figure of around £18bn.

But the Dip promised just £13.5bn, of which only £10bn was extra cash; Defense sources claimed another £3.5bn was “Treasury fraud”, possibly resulting from expected efficiency savings or cuts.

Mr Healey complained that the extra support was also “backlogged” into later years when the need for money was urgent.

Asked about Mr Healey’s criticism, the prime minister said: “We will have another spending review before parliament ends and defense will be the number one priority in that area.”

He also denied it was a “gig tomorrow” promise, saying: “When I make commitments on something as important as defence, it’s very important that I can show what the funding is.”

“I dealt with it head on and made the decision to redeploy from other departments. It’s not easy.”

Mr Carns said the funding plan did not have enough money behind it and was not “transformative” in terms of responding to the challenges of modern warfare, as demonstrated by the Ukraine conflict, where drones have become a major factor on the battlefield.

The high-ranking Royal Marines officer, who chose his military career over Westminster, insisted Sir Keir stay put to “steady the ship” but did not rule out an offer of future leadership.

Mr Carns, who was excluded from the bottoming process, said there were issues with both the level of funding and the type of equipment purchased for the military.

“I want to see a higher percentage for crewless systems, AI and data – data is the new gunpowder – and we need to push this forward if we are going to win the next war,” he told GB News.

Downing Street said Dip was still being finalized and new Defense Secretary Dan Jarvis and the armed forces chief, Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton, Chief of the Defense Staff, met Sir Keir for talks on Friday morning.

A No 10 spokesman would not question whether Mr Jarvis had sought or been offered more funding as a condition of taking on the role.

The spokesman said: “Work to finalize the defense investment plan continues at pace with the new defense minister and the prime minister has made clear that he is determined to publish it before the NATO summit in July.”

Dip was originally due to be published in autumn 2025 but the funding battle in Whitehall that eventually forced Mr Healey out pushed it back, setting a new deadline for the NATO leaders’ summit in July.

Although the government has committed to spending 3.5 per cent of GDP on defense by 2035, Mr Healey said the plan presented to him on Monday was progressing too slowly, with defense spending rising to just 2.68 per cent in 2030 after reaching 2.6 per cent next year.

Sources said the deal proposed by the Treasury did not set a date for increasing spending to 3 per cent and was trying to force the Ministry of Defense to plan to reach that figure only in 2034/35.