DAN HODGES: The PM had just two things in mind - saving his tarnished legacy and throwing a spanner in Burnham's works

By DAN HODGES, DAILY MAIL COLUMNIST Published: 22:59, 30 June 2026 | Updated: 23:25, 30 June 2026 Early on Sunday evening, a couple of hours after he had shocked the cricketing world with news of his resignation, Ben Stokes walked out to open for England. The stunned commentators struggled to explain what they were watching. He was trying to ‘get ahead of the game’ by rapidly eating into New Zealand’s lead, one suggested. Another claimed he was trying to ‘unsettle’ his opponents, as he thrashed away wildly from his opening delivery. They were wrong. The truth was Stokes was on an ego trip. His carefully filmed dressing-room address to his stunned players. The announcement of his resignation, timed by his media representatives to directly coincide with one of his bowling spells. His decision to shunt youthful opener Emilio Gay down the order to maximise the theatre of his departure. For England’s lost leader it was primarily about basking in the spotlight one final time. So it was with Keir Starmer’s belated unveiling yesterday of his Defence Investment Plan (DIP). Officially the announcement was geared to guaranteeing the defence of the realm. About ‘taking the necessary choices, the right choices, to protect out nation’, as the Prime Minister claimed gravely. It was not. Instead, Sir Keir had two other things in mind. Attempting to cement – actually, rescue from the knackers’ yard – his tarnished legacy. And trying to throw a spanner into the works of Andy Burnham’s coronation as his successor. In the first of these he is already doomed to fail. His failure was assured three weeks ago when Defence Secretary John Healey resigned, warning ‘you have been unable, and the Treasury has been unwilling, to commit the resources that the nation needs to defend the country at this time of rising threats’. Keir Starmer's failure was assured three weeks ago, when his Defence Secretary John Healey resigned over the Government's insufficient commitment to defence spending 'Starmer has never had the political authority or guile to persuade his party... so he was forced to scrabble around to find an extra £1.5billion behind the back of the sofa', says Dan Hodges Starmer seems to have thought that amid the tumult of the past week something as relatively minor as being accused by the man he had put in charge of Britain’s armed forces of placing the lives of our servicemen and women at risk would have been swiftly forgotten. So he must have been sorely disappointed when Healey yesterday stuck to his guns (or the fact we have no guns) and reaffirmed his opposition to Sir Keir’s legacy plan. ‘Britain will still be spending just 2.7 per cent of GDP in 2030, the date when Nato has warned we could face a Russian attack,’ Healey chided. ‘European security is at stake. The PM has said today that 3 per cent must be the number one priority for the next spending review. We need a target date for 3 per cent and a clear, credible funding plan to meet our Nato commitment for 3.5 per cent on defence by 2035.’ But Starmer has never had the political authority or guile to persuade his party, or his next-door-neighbour Rachel Reeves, to back spending of that magnitude. So instead he was forced to scrabble around to find an additional £1.5billion behind the back of the sofa to pretend he had heeded the concerns of his former defence secretary and the service chiefs. But again, he wouldn’t level with the public about where this additional cash was coming from. Sir Keir tried to pretend it had been secured through major savings in the roads budget. But the truth is a significant proportion of the funding has come from axing parts of the military housing programme. And so rather than have as his legacy a raft of homes fit for heroes, our outgoing Prime Minister will leave a bunch of mould-infested flats housing Putin’s cannon-fodder. Where he may have more success is in his effort to kneecap Andy Burnham. Starmer is only too aware that his spending announcement will barely paper over the cracks in the nation’s defensive readiness. Indeed he hinted as much, by slyly stating in his speech: ‘It is a platform on which I know my successor will build.’ He is also well aware his successor has been looking at the possibility of using defence bonds to boost additional spending. Andy Burnham's team are well aware that by failing to come close to a full funding settlement, Starmer has left them a poisoned chalice on defence that will soon have to be grasped... 'Sir Keir clearly still believes in his own publicity. Or spin. He genuinely thinks he is the Prime Minister who has successfully charmed Trump', writes our columnist  So he made a point of launching a well-aimed Exocet at that plan. ‘Let’s be clear, defence bonds are just borrowing by another name,’ he said. ‘We’ve looked at this very carefully but the fact is doing this through borrowing would push interest rates higher, at a time when one pound in every ten already goes on paying debt interest.’ Burnham’s team were careful not to rise to the bait yesterday, simply saying ‘the DIP has been settled’. But they’re well aware that by failing to come close to a full funding settlement, Starmer has left them a poisoned chalice on defence that will soon have to be grasped. By which point, of course, former Prime Minister Starmer will be putting the final touches to his memoirs. And it will be interesting to see if they are able to capture the sheer level of denial that has characterised his concluding weeks in office. Sir Keir clearly still believes in his own publicity. Or spin. He genuinely thinks he is the Prime Minister who has successfully charmed Trump. Who has skilfully negotiated a successful resolution to the Chagos deal. Who has presided over a dramatic recasting of our relationship with the EU. Who has kept Britain strong and secure in the face of Putin and Xi’s aggression. The harsh reality – which is that his relationship with Trump has collapsed, along with his cherished Chagos deal, there has been no grand European reset, and Russia and China see him as weak and pliable – is not something he can countenance. Which is why we were subject to yesterday’s embarrassing spectacle. Of a Prime Minister trying to retain a final ounce of relevance by unveiling a defence plan that is unfinanced, unfit for purpose, and will not outlive his departure from office in a three weeks’ time. Yesterday’s speech was not about defending the realm. It was about massaging Keir Starmer’s bruised ego. So maybe it represents a fitting epitaph for his premiership after all. The comments below have not been moderated. The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline. By posting your comment you agree to our house rules. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual. Do you want to automatically post your MailOnline comments to your Facebook Timeline? Your comment will be posted to MailOnline as usual We will automatically post your comment and a link to the news story to your Facebook timeline at the same time it is posted on MailOnline. To do this we will link your MailOnline account with your Facebook account. We’ll ask you to confirm this for your first post to Facebook. You can choose on each post whether you would like it to be posted to Facebook. 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