Emily Maitlis

It's all right.

We'll get the extra 13 billion for defence by doing this, that and the other.

It's always going to be driven by the prime minister.

And I think it shows his lack of political deafness, his inability to manage relationships.

And this thing that I keep hearing is that Keir Starmer never talks to anybody.

He never has a kind of, you know, look, let's chat about what this problem is and how we're going to solve it and what's the best way.

He reads briefing papers, but doesn't talk to anyone.

And I think that this is just political ineptitude on a grand scale of what has happened, that you end up with John Healey deciding, I can stand it no longer.

And I suspect that John Healey, you know, he had the confidence of his other cabinet colleagues.

They speak very highly of him.

He had the confidence of the MOD.

He had the confidence of the defence industries.

They all thought he was doing a good job.

So I've got to say that I think when Andy Burnham comes in, I wouldn't have thought...

that John Healy would have been the first for the high jump if Andy Burnham is trying to clear out Deadwood and is trying to make spaces for some of the people who he thinks he owes favours to.

I would have thought John Healy would have been one of the safest people to remain in that job, given the sensitivities of NATO, the international framework for things at the moment.

And therefore, I'd have thought that... I think John Healy's just taken this decision because, you know, yeah, sure, Makerfield is coming next week.

Yeah, I mean, you know, this is real unknown territory.

I think why John Healy is so...

toxic and radioactive and utterly dangerous for Keir Starmer in a way that West Streeting is not as much is that we knew we know that West Streeting is ambitious that he wants to be the prime minister that he's got his own game to play and therefore you know the positioning of when he resigned and you know was this the right time and could I launch an early challenge and have I got the votes have I got the 81 votes you know maybe I haven't but I might get there but