Barnsley MP Dan Jarvis appointed Defence Secretary - replacing John Healey
Shortly before appointing Dan Jarvis, Sir Keir Starmer was hit with another resignation, as Al Carns, the Armed Forces Minister, quit.
Barnsley North MP Dan Jarvis has been appointed John Healey’s successor as Defence Secretary, however Sir Keir Starmer’s authority was dealt another hammerblow as Armed Forces Minister Al Carns quit.
Mr Carns, a former Royal Marines officer, resigned on Thursday evening, writing to the Prime Minister to tell him he could not defend “a level of investment I know to be inadequate to the task”.
Mr Healey had earlier quit as defence secretary claiming Sir Keir had been “unable, and the Treasury has been unwilling”, to provide adequate funding for the defence investment plan (Dip).
In a damning letter, the Rawmarsh and Conisburgh MP said the Prime Minister’s proposal “could make the country less safe”.
Fellow South Yorkshire MP Mr Jarvis, a former Parachute Regiment officer who served in Afghanistan and Iraq, was appointed Mr Healey’s successor late on Thursday.
He was first elected for Barnsley North in 2011 and was also the first South Yorkshire Mayor between 2018 and 2022.
Mr Jarvis was awarded an MBE for his military service, when he serves as a platoon commander with the 3rd Parachute Battalion.
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In a statement after the appointment, Sir Keir said: “My first duty is to keep the British people safe, and I will always do what is necessary to protect our national security.
“I am pleased to appoint Dan Jarvis as Defence Secretary as we strengthen our armed forces and meet the growing threats facing our country.
“This Labour Government is delivering the largest sustained increase in defence spending since the Cold War.
“In a dangerous and volatile world, we will give our armed forces the capabilities they need to defend Britain and keep our nation secure.”
The Dip, a blueprint for investing more in the military over a sustained period, was originally called for by the strategic defence review almost exactly a year ago and has been long delayed by wrangling over funding.
In his resignation letter to the Prime Minister, former Royal Marines commando Mr Carns wrote: “I have sat in the rooms, seen the assessments, and spoken to the commanders who will be asked to do more with less, and I cannot in good conscience stand at the dispatch box and defend a level of investment I know to be inadequate to the task.
“A serious country funds its defence to meet the threat it actually faces, not the threat it wishes it faced.”
Mr Carns had only an hour before his resignation suggested he was willing to wait until the Dip was finalised before considering his position in Government.
But he also suggested to Sky News he could walk away from the Government if the final version of the plan does not do “right by the armed forces”.
On his exit from Government, Mr Healey is understood to have asked other defence ministers to remain in post.
But not all of his team heeded his request, with Pamela Nash – Mr Healey’s parliamentary private secretary (PPS) – following his lead in leaving the Government.
She described the “delays and difficulties” which had dogged the Dip as “the latest issue that is damaging to the trust of the public in us”, in a resignation letter to Sir Keir.
Rachel Hopkins, another defence PPS, also resigned her post on Thursday.
Responding to Mr Healey’s resignation in his own letter, Sir Keir said he agreed that the Government has to “go further” on increasing defence funding.
But he insisted the Dip “will provide the resources our military needs to keep us safe and the clarity the British defence industry needs to plan”.
The plan is backed by “the necessary investment”, Sir Keir said, adding that increases in spending underpinning the plan will be “sustainable and fair”.
Warning of cuts elsewhere in the Government, the Prime Minister said extra defence spending “will mean significant reallocations of funding from across Government departments”.
Concluding his letter, Sir Keir said: “Taking these decisions is never easy. I am determined to rebuild our country after years of being buffeted by crises. I am sorry that you will not be part of that work going forward.”
Mr Healey said he had received a financial settlement for the Dip on Monday afternoon which “falls well short of what is required”, with extra support coming after 2030 when the “imperative to speed up readiness to fight is in the first two years”.
He said: “After explaining to you that I would not be able to accept a Dip settlement that does not give our forces the resources they need, I am now left with no other option than to submit my resignation as your defence secretary.”
Sources said the Government had wanted to publish the Dip on Thursday, but with a £13.5bn uplift that military chiefs said would not be enough to fund the transformation the armed forces needed.
While the Government has committed to spending 3.5 per cent of GDP on defence by 2035, Mr Healey said the plan he was presented with on Monday moved too slowly, with defence spending rising to just 2.68 per cent in 2030 after hitting 2.6 per cent next year.
He added that without a Dip that “meets the moment” he was “forced to make decisions that would reduce the readiness of our forces and increase the risk to personnel on operations, and could make our country less safe”.