Keir Starmer warned John Healey’s sudden exit is ‘final straw’ by former British Army officer

Sir Keir Starmer is grappling with another crisis following the resignation of Mr Healey, who cited a lack of spending on Britain's defences for his sudden departure.

In his damning letter to the Prme Minister, Mr Healey criticised the Treasury for being "unwilling to commit the resources that the nation needs to defend the country at this time of rising threats".

He added: "I am being forced to make decisions that would reduce the readiness of our Forces and increase the risk to personnel on operations, and could make the country less safe.

"After explaining to you that I would not be able to accept a DIP [defence investment plan] settlement that does not give our Forces the resources they need, I am now left with no other option than to submit my resignation as your Defence Secretary."

Reacting to the departure, Mr Clark told GB News that the list of possible replacements for Mr Healey is "sparse".

He said: "I imagine there'll be an appointment from Downing Street later this afternoon. Obviously Parliament's not sitting tomorrow, so this needs to be resolved pretty urgently. The list of candidates is relatively sparse.

"I think the majority of people's money is either on the Procurement Minister Luke Pollard, or the Armed Forces Minister Al Carns, famously the most decorated member of parliament I think in living history.

"So I think we can expect an announcement pretty imminently to be fair, given the gravity of the situation and how quickly this is evolving."

As host Tom Harwood questioned whether anyone will "want the job" given the pressure on Britain's defences, Mr Clark dubbed the position a "poisoned chalice".

He told GB News: "The Treasury is the absolute stumbling block in all of this conversation regarding defence spending and the antagonism that we see between Downing Street, the Treasury and the Ministry of Defence.

"And ultimately, John Healey, very capable politician, very senior politician, a Starmer absolute loyalist, was ultimately unable to wrangle Keir Starmer's opinion away from Rachel Reeves."

He stressed: "I think the stumbling block will be insurmountable given John Healey's inability to change that risk calculus in Downing Street. So whoever takes it on, I think they'll have the exact same problems."

The former officer had praise for Mr Healey's time as Defence Secretary, saying "put country before party in a way we haven't really seen".

Mr Clark said: "I must say, just very briefly, absolute all credit to John Healey. I'm no fan of this Labour Government by any stretch, and I had my doubts over John Healey as his ability to influence change in defence.

"But this man has put country before party in a way we haven't really seen, certainly in my adult lifetime. I must give him more credit for this, and I think most politicians are going to do so as well."

Casting doubt on the Government's ability to increase defence spending, Mr Clark concluded: "My one hope is, Healey's resignation is the final straw to really highlight to this Government that they have to change course.

"We spend five times as much on Social Security as we do on actual security. The welfare budget is set to balloon by £42billion extra pounds in this parliament alone.

"We're only asking or defence. We're only asking for an additional £28billion over that same period, and the hope is that this may just change that calculus in Downing Street. My personal opinion is I don't think it will."