Lucy Fisher
speaker
792 appearances
16 recordings
2 series
first heard Apr 2026
last heard 20 Jul
Lucy Fisher’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
Trend
recordings per month · last 12 monthsRecordings per month over the last 12 months — 16 in all, peaking in May 2026 with 6.
Appearances
Yeah.
Shall we talk now about John Healey and his bombshell resignation on Thursday?
Jen, I thought it was devastating, his letter to the Prime Minister, in which he accused the Prime Minister of being unable, unable...
to commit the resources that the nation needs to defend itself and accusing the Treasury of being unwilling.
So basically saying Starmer's too weak and Rachel Reeves is too obstinate to commit the money needed to keep the UK safe.
Healy revealed that on Monday, it was the first time in this month's long process that he got the final settlement figure for the defence investment plan,
which he'd hoped would be 18 billion.
It was right down at 13.5 billion.
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.
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