The British government has discovered the perfect solution to a national security crisis: two senior ministers quit in forty-eight hours, and now everyone gets to have feelings about it.
John Healey, the Defence Secretary, departed Thursday after deciding the government’s defence spending plan was, and this is a direct quote, “well short of what is required.” His replacement lasted approximately the time it takes to read a security briefing before armed forces minister Al Carns also walked, citing the same problem with slightly different words. Both men had apparently spent months in their roles without realizing the money wasn’t there, which suggests either remarkable patience or a catastrophic failure of basic arithmetic at the Cabinet table.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer responded to this twin exodus by insisting he had made “hard-edged decisions” and that he has “a duty to stay on.” This is technically true. He has made decisions. They were hard. They were also apparently so hard that the people responsible for executing them immediately quit. The Defence Investment Plan, which will finally be released ahead of a NATO summit next month, has been delayed so many times that NATO probably assumes we’re defending the country with strongly worded letters and optimism.
MPs have warned that the delays “undermine UK credibility,” which is a diplomatic way of saying our allies now think we’re making this up as we go. Starmer needs to make “bold” decisions, everyone agrees. Nobody has explained what bold means when the money simply isn’t there. Presumably it involves tea with very stern expressions and significantly more nodding than usual.