Why Has Defence Secretary John Healey Resigned?
6/11/202631 min
Today, the UK Defence Secretary John Healey has resigned.
In his resignation letter to the PM, Healey set out his reasons for leaving, telling the PM the defence investment plan "falls well short of what is required for defence and the country at this dangerous time”.
The sixth minister to resign for Starmer’s cabinet in a month, and one of its most loyal, the question will now turn to what lies ahead for the PM.
Adam and Chris are joined by Shashank Joshi Defence Editor of the Economist
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New episodes released every day. If you're in the UK, for more News and Current Affairs podcasts from the BBC, listen on BBC Sounds: https://bbc.in/4guXgXd Newscast brings you daily analysis of the latest political news stories from the BBC. The presenter was Adam Fleming. It was made by Jack Maclaren with Anna Harris and Gabriel Purcell-Davis. The social producer was Joe Wilkinson. The technical producer was . The assistant editor is Chris Gray. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham.
Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsAdam Fleming· Host0:00
Hello, Chris.
Chris Mason· Host0:00
Hi.
Adam Fleming· Host0:01
Now, I always love hearing how bombshells land on the political editor's phone, so how did the bombshell of John Healey's resignation as defense secretary mid-morning on Thursday land?
Chris Mason· Host0:10
So I had just finished writing a piece for the BBC News website and app, uh, along the lines of- About John Healey's bright future? [laughs] Well, [laughs] no, but it was about the defense investment plan- Mm ... 'cause I've been talking about it on the Today program, and it was obvious that there was one heck of a row going on within government and within the military around the numbers, and basically they just couldn't come to an agreement on, uh, the numbers. That was obvious. What wasn't, uh, was that the Defense Secretary would do what he did and do what he did in the context of politics right now. And then, Adam, y- you have this sort of, I have this sort of sense of m- moments like this shouldn't feel normal, uh, as a- Mm ... as a political reporter. But, but they've started to, to be honest, uh, because of the resignations that we've had in the last month, six in total, uh, amongst ministers, two from the cabinet, and then with the prospect of whatever might happen the other side of that by-election in Makerfield in the northwest of England in a- Mm ... in a week's time.
Adam Fleming· Host1:11
My first, uh, impression was that it was a quite old-school resignation, in that it was over just a clear disagreement about a particular policy- Mm ... as opposed to disagreement with the direction of the government or Keir Starmer's leadership. It was actually kind of... It reminded me a bit of when Iain Duncan Smith resigned from David Cameron's government because George