John Healey Quitting Defence Puts a Time Bomb under No 10. He Is a Loyalist: This Is No Ordinary Departure

THE GUARDIAN: He served through the eras of Blair, Brown, Miliband and Corbyn in a party that knows and respects him. It will matter that even his patience has run out

This screenshot is from this Guardian op-ed. | Keir Starmer (left) and John Healey in March 2025. Photograph: WPA/Getty Images
John Healey is not a rash man. Slow to anger, calm in a crisis, loyal and yet beneath it all, formidably determined. He stuck at it through the Jeremy Corbyn years, much as he privately despaired of where the party was heading, keeping his thoughts to himself because all he wanted was for Labour to win again. When it did, under Keir Starmer, he became the understated anchor to a frequently gale-tossed ship of government; the solid citizen everybody liked and nobody distrusted, a natural choice for caretaker leader had Starmer ever fallen under a bus.

Or, perhaps, been pushed under a tank.

For a defence secretary to resign weeks before a critical Nato summit, in the middle of conflict in the Gulf and on the eve of a domestic byelection which will determine his party’s future, is extraordinary in itself. But it’s that bayonet of a resignation letter – painting the prime minister as weak and impotent, incapable even of finding the money to keep the nation safe – that now threatens to finish off an already badly wounded premiership. » | Gaby Hinsliff | Thursday, June 11, 2026

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Polite but deadly: John Healey skewers Keir Starmer as he heads for the door: The defence secretary’s departure was the wrong resignation at the worst possible time for the prime minister »

German and U.K. Leaders Sign Mutual Defense Pact as U.S. Steps Back

THE NEW YORK TIMES: The new treaty includes a pledge by both countries to regard a threat against one as a threat against the other, in the latest sign of European nations uniting amid growing instability.

Britain and Germany signed a landmark defense treaty on Thursday, further evidence of how European leaders are drawing together to confront a security landscape scrambled by President Trump’s “America First” foreign policy and President Vladimir V. Putin’s relentless assault on Ukraine.

The Anglo-German accord, signed by Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Chancellor Friedrich Merz during his visit to London, covers energy, economic cooperation and migration, in addition to defense.

It builds on an agreement signed last October, under which the two agreed to cooperate on mutual defense, with joint military exercises and the development of sophisticated weapons.

The treaty includes a pledge by both countries to regard a threat against one as a threat against the other, declaring that they will “assist one another, including by military means, in case of an armed attack on the other.” That echoed language adopted by Britain and France, which pledged last week to more closely coordinate their nuclear arsenals in responding to threats against European allies. » | Mark Landler and Jim Tankersley | Mark Landler reported from London, and Jim Tankersley from Berlin. | Thursday, July 17, 2025

America Is Backward; Europe, Progressive

MARK ALEXANDER: We in Europe need to stop looking toward America for leadership. Under Trump, we can expect no leadership from the USA.

America is a backward nation, and it is becoming more backward with each passing day. We Europeans, therefore, need to wake up to the fact that our destiny lies in our own hands. We are the architects of our own destiny. We can no longer depend on the Americans to help us out in difficult times, especially under Trump. Trump is a flake.

Despair not! We Europeans can do it. We can defend ourselves. All we need is the determination to do so.

World War III could be just around the corner. We had better be ready for it. Being well-prepared is key. To be forewarned is to be forearmed.

© Mark Alexander
All Rights Reserved

UK Must Be Ready to Fight War in Three Years, Says Army Head

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BBC: Britain must be ready to fight a war in three years, the new head of the Army has said.

Gen Sir Roland Walker has warned against a range of threats in what he called an "increasingly volatile" world.

But he said war was not inevitable and the Army had "just enough time" to prepare itself to avoid conflict.

Central to this was doubling the Army's fighting power by 2027 and tripling it by the end of the decade, he said.

In his first speech in the role on Tuesday, Gen Walker said the UK faced danger from an "axis of upheaval".

Among the key threats facing the UK in the coming years, highlighted by the general in a briefing, is an angered Russia, which could seek retribution against the West for supporting Ukraine, regardless of who wins the war. » | Jonathan Beale, Defence correspondent | Ian Aikman, BBC News | Tuesday, July 23, 2024

EU Must Defend Ukraine Even If US Reduces Military Support, Macron Says

THE GUADIAN: French president says future security architecture of Europe could no longer be settled by the US and Russia

The European Union has to make bold decisions to defend Ukraine, pre-empting any US decision to withhold or reduce its military support, Emmanuel Macron has said.

In a speech in Sweden, which hopes to be the next country to join Nato, the French president also said the future security architecture of Europe, including arms control agreements covering European territory, could no longer be settled simply by the US and Russia, and Europe had to have a right to determine its own future.

His remarks were designed as a warning to Europe that it needs to ramp up its whole defence effort and prepare for the possibility that either Joe Biden will be unable to push his military assistance budget for Ukraine through Congress, or that later in the year he is defeated in a presidential election by an isolationist Donald Trump. » | Patrick Wintour, Diplomatic editor | Tuesday, January 30, 2023

Hear! Hear! – © Mark Alexander