Safety first
IT’S become a depressingly common sight for a Cabinet Minister to quit in disgrace after a scandal.
But for a Defence Secretary to resign on principle because his own Prime Minister isn’t prepared to defend the country properly is a decades-old throwback to more honourable political times.
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John Healey’s departure exposes how the PM and his Chancellor grossly misled voters with their promises Credit: EPA
The departure of John Healey is a massive and possibly mortal blow to Keir Starmer Credit: Crown Copyright
The departure of John Healey, a decent and fiercely loyal ally, followed by that of his Armed Forces minister Al Carns, is a massive and possibly mortal blow to Keir Starmer.
But what it really exposes is that the PM and his Chancellor grossly misled voters with their promises to make defending the nation their number one mission and to turn Britain into a defence-industrial superpower.
If they had been serious about either, they wouldn’t have kept Healey in the dark about the months-overdue Defence Investment Plan for so long before offering him a measly last-minute £10billion to fund it.
Rachel Reeves may well have justifiable concerns about the MoD’s previous record of shocking waste.
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So why not reform the failing budget processes instead of putting serving military and the public at risk with this senseless penny-pinching?
Despite widespread outrage at Europe’s number one military power being reduced to such embarrassing irrelevance — and disbelief among Nato leaders yesterday — Reeves showed she STILL doesn’t get it.
Her allies yesterday all but accused Healey of throwing a hissy fit and wanting “cuts to schools and hospitals”.
Perhaps, if anyone in there had the guts, Downing Street could think about cutting welfare instead?
Disability benefits of £71billion a year and a record 3.5million on Universal Credit for incapacity, with 71 per cent of new claims mental-health related.
Motability cars on PIP worth £7billion a year. Scrapping the two-child benefit cap at a cost of £3billion.
What about taking on Ed Miliband — whose Net Zero fanaticism now borders on a threat to national security — and axing untested carbon capture schemes costing £9billion?
Or ending the £4.5billion spent every year on asylum hotels, with free healthcare, taxis, arts classes and the rest for illegal migrants?
Never mind the £20billion a year we might have to pay into the EU if Labour presses ahead with plans to rejoin.
Starmer has refused to address any of this. You can be sure his socialist leadership rival Andy Burnham won’t either.
To govern is to choose.
In denying Healey and giving in to Reeves and Miliband, Starmer chose Benefits Street and green zealotry above our brave Armed Forces.
That will likely prove fatal for his premiership.
But it is even worse for Brits now living less safely in a more dangerous world.
Who among Labour is capable of defending us now?
