The new defence secretary Dan Jarvis is set to speak this morning after Sir Keir Starmer’s beleaguered premiership has been shaken by cabinet resignations.
Previous defence ministers John Healey and Al Carns resigned over military funding yesterday. Tensions have been mounting in the cabinet over the publication of the long-delayed DIP, which will set out how new equipment and defence infrastructure will be funded in the next decade.
Mr Jarvis, a Parachute Regiment veteran who has been serving as security minister, will now be expected to defend what is expected to be a £13.5 billion uplift in defence spending, a figure which military chiefs say is far short of what is needed to fund the transformation of the armed forces.
It comes after Mr Healey warned that the defence investment plan (DIP) “falls well short of what is required”, and accused the prime minister and the chancellor of having been “unwilling to commit the resources that the nation needs to defend the country at this time of rising threats".
The defence secretary was joined in his exit from the cabinet by armed forces minister Mr Carns, as well as two parliamentary aides, heaping pressure on the prime minister, who is already facing the threat of a leadership challenge.
