Energy Crisis Shapes UK Budget as Chancellor Faces Pressure Over Defence Spending

SARAH VINE: Healey's a decent fellow, but Kemi was in full attack mode

Watching the Budget speech yesterday, I couldn't quite work out who the Chancellor John Healey reminded me of.

Badenoch holds Healey to his own test on defence spending and says he's failed

The Conservative leader turned to the resignation letter John healey sent to Keir Starmer to ask why in his debut Budget as Chancellor he didn't meet his own test

Energy Crisis Shapes UK Budget as Chancellor Faces Pressure Over Defence Spending

John Healey’s maiden Budget is likely to omit clear plans to boost defence spending, reform taxes and curb the welfare bill, economists have predicted, in a move that would kick “tough decisions into the long grass”. Healey, who resigned from Sir Keir Starmer’s government over the Treasury’s refusal to set out how it would lift spending on the military to three per cent of GDP by 2030, is expected to delay several major financial decisions until…

Budget 2026 Live: Kemi Badenoch calls on John Healey to resign as Chancellor accused of 'making Britain less safe’

Budget 2026 Live: Kemi Badenoch calls on John Healey to resign as Chancellor accused of 'making Britain less safe’ . Kemi Badenoch has told John Healey to resign after "failing his own test" on defence spending