Kiran Stacey

This is The Guardian.

The fact of the resignation is one thing, but the actual wording of the statement is so blistering.

He said, you are not as committed to defence as you claim, and you're actually putting our security at risk.

Not only is he saying that Keir Starmer is not willing to do it, but he's unable to overrule his chancellor.

So he's saying he's also weak.

All of these things play into all of the doubts that Keir Starmer's critics have about him.

Well, first of all, John Healy was, until about an hour ago, the Defence Secretary.

That's a pretty big job in itself.

It's a big job.

It's true to say that he's probably one of the more low-key members of the Cabinet.

I've actually known him for quite a long time and he's very softly spoken.

But he's well-liked.

He's been around the Labour Party for an extremely long time.

He's got a history in the Treasury.

He's done senior jobs at a number of posts.

But why is this a big deal?

Because the fight that the government is having right now is over defense spending.

And we are told, although this has been happening behind closed doors until today, that the Treasury had been saying that they were willing to fund a certain amount for the defense budget over the next few years.

And that John Healey, the defense secretary, was pushing back very heavily and saying, no, we need much more.

The problem is you've got Keir Starmer saying that defense of this country and also geopolitical uncertainty and instability is the major force in the world right now.