Defence secretary questioned by MPs over timing of Healey quitting and tanker seizure | Dan Jarvis
Dan Jarvis told MPs that the Russian oil tanker seized on Sunday was monitored for several days as he deflected claims that its seizure was ordered by a prime minister under pressure following the resignation of John Healey last week.
The new defense secretary, backed supportively by Chancellor Rachel Reeves in the Commons, said Smyrtos was being “closely monitored” when faced with a question from Conservatives at the weekend about why the capture took place.
Jarvis said surveillance of the tanker carrying crude oil from Russia to India continued “in the days” until it was seized by the Royal Marines “on suspicion of using a false flag” against Cameroon.
It was seized 40 kilometers south of the Isle of Wight in the early hours of Sunday, when Marine commandos descended to the deck of the 244-metre ship. The defense minister said the ship was captured “within minutes”.
The National Crime Agency said the ship’s captain, Indian national Ajay Pant, 38, was charged with breaching sanctions offenses and will appear in Southampton magistrates’ court on Tuesday, while 24 crew members from Georgia and India remained on the ship.
Questions had been raised about the timing of the seizure, which came three days after Healey resigned on Thursday over a bitter row over No 10 money and the Treasury’s readiness to defend it until 2030.
“You have failed to allocate the resources the nation needs to defend the country and the Treasury has been reluctant,” Healey said in his dramatic resignation letter, which stunned Westminster.
The Labor veteran resigned after the Treasury offered just £13.5bn to plug an £18bn shortfall in the defense investment plan (Dip); Starmer, however, was willing to increase defense spending to just 2.68 per cent of GDP by 2030, below the NATO target of 3.5 per cent by 2035.
Reeves sat next to Jarvis for the first half of his statement, his first trip to the House of Commons as defense secretary. “The chancellor is someone who cares deeply about our national security, and that’s why he’s here to provide that support,” Jarvis said.
However, there was no further update from Jarvis regarding Dip’s condition; Except the newly appointed defense minister repeated this before the NATO summit in Ankara in early July.
Shadow defense secretary James Cartlidge asked Jarvis why the ship was seized this weekend, when dozens of other shadow fleet ships passed into UK waters after Starmer warned in March that tankers carrying Russian oil under sanctions could be at risk of being intercepted.
“There had been no embarkation on these ships until this weekend, almost three months after the policy was announced. What has changed in the specific action that has taken place?” the Conservative MP asked.
The defense secretary said the principle seizure was “the result of weeks of military and operational planning” but did not say whether Britain would seek to sell the 100,000 tonnes of crude oil from the Smyrtos ship to raise funds for Ukraine’s defense against an ongoing Russian invasion.
