Two top UK defense officials resign over military spending in fresh blow to Keir Starmer | CNN

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer suffered a fresh blow on Thursday after Secretary of Defense John Healey resigned over a budget dispute, saying the government is not willing to give the British Armed Forces the “resources they need.” Soon after, Minister of State for the Armed Forces Al Carns also announced his resignation in a letter posted to X, saying that the government is “failing” to give the armed forces what they need to do the job and the “loyalty to stand by them when it’s done.” Starmer, whose government’s popularity has collapsed just two years after a landslide general election victory, has been under pressure recently from within his own party. In his letter addressed to the prime minister and shared on the social media platform X, Healey said the amount of money allocated to defense “falls well short of what is required for defence and the country at this dangerous time.” Carns said in his own letter addressed to Starmer that the “character of conflict is changing faster than our procurement can keep up with.” “We are asking our Armed Forces to operate in a more dangerous world on a budget written for a calmer one,” said the former Royal Ma

Jun 11, 2026 → Jun 16, 2026