UK: Defense Secretary John Healey quits in military spending dispute

British Defense Secretary John Healey published his resignation letter at lunchtime on Thursday, quitting his post amid a dispute over military spending plans for the coming years.

The unexpected resignation compounds pressure on under-fire UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer , who in recent weeks had seemed to weather the worst of a storm about a potential challenge for the Labour Party leadership .

Britain's Defense and Finance ministries had been locked in talks for months on how quickly to increase defense spending in the next few years.

The clash pits strained public finances and anemic growth forecasts against NATO targets to continue increasing European defense expenditures.

Healey, a close ally of Starmer's for years and shadow defense secretary in opposition prior to Labour's election win in July 2024, prefaced his resignation by saying, "This is a letter I never expected to write, and I do so now with great reluctance."

He said he was proud of the UK's existing rapid increases in defense spending, but said that the latest settlement on a Defense Investment Plan (DIP) for spending through 2035 "falls well short of what is required for defense and the country at this dangerous time."

He said that the increases by 2030 were projected to be negligible compared to the spending already guaranteed by the end of 2027.

Despite "the scale of the challenge and the rising demands on defense," Healey told Starmer that "you have been unable, and the Treasury has been unwilling, to commit the resources that the nation needs to defend the country at this time of rising threats."