John Healey Resigns

John Healey Resigns

From Politics Unpacked by Times Radio

June 11, 2026 · 38 min

About this episode

The episode discusses John Healey's resignation as Defence Secretary and its implications for the Prime Minister's authority, alongside a conversation about social media's role in unrest in Belfast.

The Defence Secretary John Healey resigned, claiming Keir Starmer's lack of funding for the military will make the UK "less safe" Hugo Rifkind spoke to The Times' Chief Political Commentator Patrick Maguire and Times Radio's Political Editor Anna Mikhailova about the damage the resignation has done to the Prime Minister's authority. And before the news of Healey's resignation broke, Hugo spoke to the New Statesman's Political Correspondent Megan Kenyon and the academic and podcaster David Runciman about whether social media was fanning the flames of unrest in Belfast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

People in this episode

Host: Hugo Rifkind

Guests: Patrick Maguire, Anna Mikhailova, Megan Kenyon, David Runciman

Topics covered

  • politics
  • military funding
  • resignation
  • government authority
  • social media
  • unrest

Keywords

  • John Healey
  • Keir Starmer
  • resignation
  • military funding
  • Belfast unrest
  • politics
  • Times Radio

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: The Times, New Statesman, Times Radio

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