John Healey has resigned as Defence Secretary. In a blistering letter to the Prime Minister, he said: ‘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.’

This comes after Keir Starmer failed even to secure the derisory sum of money he had demanded from the Treasury and the cabinet to modernise Britain’s forces following the recommendations of the Strategic Defence Review. The timing is equally devastating, as Starmer is heading to the G7 summit on Monday, where he will have to face Donald Trump.

So what does this mean for Starmer’s premiership? Will more resignations follow – or will the missiles turn on the Treasury and Rachel Reeves’s reluctance to cough up? And who will take on the poisoned chalice of the defence brief now?

Noa Hoffman speaks to Tim Shipman and James Heale.

Produced by Oscar Edmondson.

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