542. Starmer Loses His Defence Secretary: What Next?
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Welcome to a live episode of The Rest Is Politics with me, Alistair Campbell. And with me, Rory Stewart. And why are we doing a live episode today, just ahead of the kickoff of the World Cup? Because, out of the blue... Breaking news, Defence Secretary John Healey resigned from the Cabinet. Worse for Keir Starmer, he did so at a time when the Prime Minister is facing a possible leadership challenge in the coming weeks or months, with the likeliest challenger, Andy Burnham, exactly one week away now from the by-election that may see his return to Parliament. And Perhaps most devastating of all, John Healy makes clear in his resignation letter that leadership is the issue. This line, which I suspect hit Keir Starmer quite hard.
You have been unable, writes John Healy, and the Treasury has been unwilling to commit the resources that the nation needs to defend the country. So he's got Rachel Reeves as well as Keir Starmer in his sights, and he's going down fighting, I guess. The issue is defence spending, more particularly what's known as the Defence Investment Plan, which he thought had been broadly agreed some time ago, which has been sitting on the Prime Minister's desk amid some very, very tough negotiations. So we've got a few immediate questions. Who replaces him? When does the defence investment plan get published? And Lindsay Hoyle, the parliamentary speaker, exploded today at the idea it might be tomorrow when most MPs are away.
And I guess it also begs the question, where does this leave Keir Starmer on the authority front? So, Rory, where would you like to start with what is quite big news?
I really want to get into the politics of this with you, and it's something that you'll know much more about than me. And one of the things we were talking about just before we came up on air is might John Healey be thinking about himself as a future prime minister? Could he be positioning himself for leadership? I think the question of who the next defense secretary is is slightly less interesting because it strikes me there'll be a bit of a lame duck anyway, particularly if Andy Burnham's going into the running imminently. But what I want to do is just remind people a little bit about what the big conversation's about. So the big conversation is famously about the fact that following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, people have become more and more conscious of the fact that the world is getting a much more unstable place.
and that the United States has made it very clear that they're certainly not going to financially continue to bail out their European allies, but they may actually not even come to NATO's assistance. So there's huge pressure on all countries, of which Britain is probably the leading example in Europe, maybe along with France, Europe's leading military power, to step up.
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–8:46
2
What led to John Healey's resignation as Defence Secretary?
8:46–12:04
3
What are the implications of the Defence Investment Plan?
12:04–13:23
4
Who are the potential candidates to replace John Healey?
13:23–14:27
5
How does Healey's resignation impact Keir Starmer's leadership?
14:27–14:55
6
What challenges does Keir Starmer face with his party's authority?
14:55–18:04
7
How does the current geopolitical climate affect UK's defence strategy?
18:04–36:49
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from The Rest Is Politics
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