Lucy Fisher

And he was basically bounced with that figure just ahead of Starmer wanting to announce it later this week.

And he's made clear, laid down the gauntlet for Starmer, saying that the headmark date for spending 3% of GDP on defence must be 2030, sort of

you know, significantly earlier than when Starmer has given a vague ambition of wanting to reach that stage, which he said is in the next parliament, which could basically be as late as 2034.

You know, if Starmer's faltering administration collapsed, you know, who might the party look to as a potential compromise candidate, aside from the bigger characters like Angela Rayner or Wes Streeting, who are already in Parliament?

And John Healy's name was being, you know, passed around.

That was definitely picked up by, you know, some people.

on his team, some of his supporters that, you know, he could potentially be in line as a future British prime minister.

So, look, I don't think we can rule out the sense that, you know, he has had an eye on his future fortunes.

But, you know, knowing Healy well, covering the defence beat, I would say, you know, I think everything I'm hearing from those around him and who know him well and have spoken to him and other parties in this

extraordinarily agonized process, which has dragged on for more than six months, that, you know, he just thinks the number, the money being offered cannot match up with, you know, the promise, the plan to modernize and strengthen the armed forces.

And I think it's also worth pointing out quite an interesting element of the row is that when Healy won an initial uplift for defence spending last year, he managed to get that promise over the line from Starmer by saying to him, look, if we do this early in the parliament and bank the win, I promise I won't do what defence secretaries always do, which is come back with the begging bowl.

And yet he's had to do exactly that within months.

His argument has been that, in fact, Starmer's gone ahead and committed the UK to all sorts of other military initiatives, including the UK taking a leading role in post-peace deal international forces in Ukraine, in the Strait of Hormuz.

The UK has just taken up a leading role in a new mission for NATO in the Arctic.

At the same time, the threat picture is rising.

So we're seeing increased Russian malign activity that the Navy and others are having to respond to.

So the demands on defence are going up.

So Healy said, you know, when the facts change, you have to respond to that.

So let's fast forward ahead to next week.

Let's imagine if reform loses the polls and the bookies think they're going to.