The timing of John Healey's resignation could hardly have been worse for Keir Starmer.
To lose one minister might be a misfortune, to lose six in the space of a month might look like carelessness, as Prime Minister Starmer's government was left reeling again, this time by Healey's decision to step down over defence spending.
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In his eviscerating resignation letter, he said the prime minister was “unable” and his chancellor “unwilling” to commit to the defence spending that had been pledged and without which Britain was left unsafe in a dangerous world.
Starmer took the lead on the European coalition of the willing to prop up Ukraine. Just this week, he hosted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Number 10.
Here was one issue which united his fractious party. So will this turn out to be a fatal blow?
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0:00 - John Healey resigns as defence secretary
5:19 - UK, Canada and Australia foreign secretaries meet
11:44 - Healey’s resignation is ‘a huge blow to the government’
15:58 - Concerns over UK defence investment plan
20:02 - ‘Defence has to be our number one priority’
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