UK Defence Secretary John Healey resigned over military spending disagreements, accusing PM Keir Starmer of risking national security. Starmer admits he must "turn things around" after poor election results, while the US expresses concern over UK defence contributions.
John Healey resigned as UK Defence Secretary after being offered a £13.5bn increase in defence spending over four years, which he deemed insufficient. Chancellor Rachel Reeves resorted to budget cuts and departmental reserves to fund the MoD's demand for £18.5bn. The situation highlights the challenge of funding Labour's defence spending pledges, with options of spending cuts, tax rises, or borrowing all facing political hurdles.
John Healey resigned as UK Defence Secretary due to a funding dispute with the Treasury over the Defence Investment Plan (Dip). The offered funds were deemed insufficient to meet NATO spending targets and key project commitments, including the Aukus submarine program.
Britain's only serving female naval commando, Lt Lily-Mae Fisher, 31, was among three killed when an MK4 helicopter crashed in Devon during poor weather conditions. Lt Cmdr Chris Gayson, 42, and Petty Officer Owen Green, 24, also died. An investigation is underway.
Three Royal Navy personnel died when a Merlin Mk4 helicopter crashed during a training exercise on Sourton Down, Devon. Families have been informed, and investigations are underway.
Three Royal Navy crew members died when a Merlin Mk4 helicopter crashed near Sourton, Devon, during a training exercise early Wednesday. The Ministry of Defence confirmed the incident, with investigations underway. Condolences have been extended to the families.
Three Royal Navy personnel died in a Merlin Mk4 helicopter crash near Okehampton, Devon, during a training exercise. Emergency services responded to the incident early Tuesday morning. The families have been informed, and an investigation into the cause is underway.
A Royal Navy helicopter crashed in a field in Sourton Down, Devon, early Tuesday morning. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer called it a "deeply worrying time for the families" involved. An investigation is underway, and the A386 road has been closed.
A Royal Navy helicopter crashed in a field in Sourton Down, Devon, early Tuesday morning. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer called it a "deeply worrying time for the families" involved. An investigation is underway, and the A386 road has been closed.
France intercepted a sanctioned Russian oil tanker, the Tagor, in the Atlantic with UK support. President Macron stated the vessel was circumventing sanctions and funding Russia's war in Ukraine. The Kremlin called the seizure "illegal" and "bordering on international piracy."
Two Russian fighter jets "repeatedly and dangerously" intercepted an unarmed RAF spy plane over the Black Sea last month, the UK Ministry of Defence stated. The incident, described as the most dangerous Russian action since 2022, involved close passes and triggered the spy plane's emergency systems.
Lance Bombardier Ciara Sullivan, 24, died after falling from her horse at the Royal Windsor Horse Show. Police are treating the death as unexplained but non-suspicious. Sullivan was an "exceptional jockey" and "outstanding soldier" who served at the Queen's funeral and King's coronation.
More than 40 nations are involved in the mission, which the Ministry of Defence says will begin when conditions allow.
Senior academics describe the Judge business school’s proposal to provide services and training as ‘horrifying’Cambridge University’s business school is seeking to provide “leadership development” and “innovation management” to Saudi Arabia’s defence ministry despite concerns over its government’s record on human rights and climate change, the Guardian has learned.Cambridge’s leadership has approved a proposal by the university’s Judge business school to form a “memorandum of understanding” with the ministry for services and training, after an initial introduction by the UK’s Ministry of Defence. Continue reading...
The Ministry of Defence says the ship will prepare to join an international mission to safeguard shipping, but only when fighting in the region ends.
The Ministry of Defence says the ship will prepare to join an international mission to safeguard shipping, but only when fighting in the region ends.
The company’s UK and Europe boss has become a lightning rod for the British public’s fear of a US tech takeoverThe hall was packed with rightwing radicals when Louis Mosley heralded a coming revolution. Just as Oliver Cromwell – that “crusader for Christ and liberty” – routed King Charles I’s royalists, “a similar revolution is brewing today”, said the UK and Europe boss of Palantir. Globalism’s “twilight” was upon us, he said in a speech dotted with admiring mentions of the podcaster Joe Rogan and “Elon’s Doge”.It was not a typical peroration for a big UK government contractor with more than £600m in deals with the NHS, the Ministry of Defence and police. But Palantir, the world’s most controversial tech company, is no typical contractor. In recent years it has gained firm footholds across Britain’s public sector while appalling critics with its leadership’s rightwing rhetoric and its work for the US and Israeli militaries and Donald Trump’s ICE immigration crackdown. Continue reading...
Three People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) warships were spotted transiting the Tsushima Strait en route to the East China Sea last week, as Tokyo closely tracks such passages amid heightened regional tensions. The vessels were two Type 055 guided-missile destroyers and a Type 052D destroyer, according to Japan’s Ministry of Defence and Self-Defence Forces on Saturday. The ministry said the Japanese force’s JS Ootaka conducted “alert surveillance and intelligence gathering” on the Chinese...
Revelation comes after report commissioned by department released in response to charity’s FoI requestThe Ministry of Defence has no system for examining whether UK military action has killed or injured civilians in war, a study commissioned by the department has revealed.The MoD also “does not maintain a central register of civilian harm incidents or allegations” and, despite mass casualties caused by other countries, has concluded there is no need to do so because its existing mitigation is considered effective. Continue reading...
Revelation comes after report commissioned by department released in response to charity’s FoI requestThe Ministry of Defence has no system for examining whether UK military action has killed or injured civilians in war, a study commissioned by the department has revealed.The MoD also “does not maintain a central register of civilian harm incidents or allegations” and, despite mass casualties caused by other countries, has concluded there is no need to do so because its existing mitigation is considered effective. Continue reading...
Russia has ordered a two-day ceasefire in the war against Ukraine to coincide with Victory Day, which marks the anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War 2. The Russian Ministry of Defence said on Monday that this would apply on May 8 and 9, following an order from President Vladimir Putin, adding that Moscow expects the Ukrainian side to observe the truce. “If the Kyiv regime attempts to implement its criminal plans to disrupt the celebration of the 81st anniversary of Victory in...
Russia has ordered a two-day ceasefire in the war against Ukraine to coincide with Victory Day, which marks the anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War 2. The Russian Ministry of Defence announced on Monday that this would apply on May 8 and 9, following an order from President Vladimir Putin, adding that Moscow expects the Ukrainian side to observe the truce. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine will observe its own truce with Russia on May 5 and 6. Zelensky had...
About 95,000 former soldiers and officers in the UK's strategic reserve cannot be fully contacted because the Ministry of Defence has failed to maintain complete records of their details, former defence secretary George Robertson has claimed. The Labour peer, who co-authored last year's strategic defence review, said the MoD 'doesn't even know where most of them are' and called for urgent action to round up available veterans. The government announced plans in January to increase the maximum recall age from 55 to 65 and broaden the legal threshold for recall.
