John Healey

John Healey (born 13 February 1960) is a British politician who has served as Secretary of State for Defence since July 2024. A member of the Labour Party, he has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Rawmarsh and Conisbrough, previously Wentworth and Wentworth and Dearne, since 1997.

Healey served under Tony Blair as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Adult Skills from 2001 to 2002, as Economic Secretary to the Treasury from 2002 to 2005, Financial Secretary to the Treasury from 2005 to 2007, and under Gordon Brown as Minister of State for Local Government from 2007 to 2009 and as Minister of State for Housing and Planning from 2009 to 2010.

Following the 2010 general election, he was elected to the Shadow Cabinet and was appointed Shadow Secretary of State for Health by Ed Miliband. He stood down from the role in October 2011 and was succeeded by Andy Burnham. He also served as Shadow Secretary of State for Housing from 2016 to 2020 under Jeremy Corbyn, and worked alongside Andrew Gwynne, the Shadow Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government.

Early life and career

John Healey was born on 13 February 1960 in Wakefield, the son of Aidan Healey OBE. He was educated at the Lady Lumley's School in Pickering before attending the independent St Peter's School, York for sixth form. He studied Social and Political Science at Christ's College, Cambridge, where he received a BA in 1982.

Healey worked as a journalist and the deputy editor of '' The House'', the internal magazine of the Palace of Westminster, for a year in 1983. In 1984 he became a full-time disability rights campaigner for several national charities.

Healey joined Issues Communications in 1990 as a campaign manager before becoming the head of communications at the Manufacturing, Science and Finance trade union in 1992. He was appointed as the campaign director with the Trades Union Congress in 1994, in which capacity he remained until his election to the House of Commons. He was also a tutor at the Open University Business School.

Parliamentary

Healey's first attempt to enter Parliament was as candidate for Ryedale at the 1992 general election, where he finished in third with 13.8% of the vote behind the incumbent Conservative MP John Greenway and the Liberal Democrat Elizabeth Shields.

In government (1997–2010)

At the 1997 general election, Healey was the Labour Party candidate for Wentworth, which had become available following the retirement of the Labour MP Peter Hardy. Healey was elected to Parliament with 72.3% of the vote and a majority of 23,959.

Healey served as a member of the education and employment select committee from 1997 until he became the Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown in 1999.

At the 2001 general election, Healey was re-elected as MP for Wentworth with a decreased vote share of 67.5% and a decreased majority of 16,449. Following the election, he was appointed as the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Adult Skills at the Department for Education and Skills.

At the 2005 general election Healey was again re-elected with a decreased vote share of 59.6% and a decreased majority of 15,056.

On 29 June 2007, Healey was moved to the Department for Communities and Local Government as a result of a government reshuffle. Shortly after his appointment he assumed responsibility for assisting the recovery from widespread flooding across the United Kingdom.

In a Cabinet reshuffle on 5 June 2009, he was appointed Minister of State for Housing and Planning, replacing Margaret Beckett who had resigned. While Minister of State for Housing and Planning, he was criticised for suggesting that more people renting properties rather than buying their own homes was a good thing.

In opposition (2010–2024)

At the 2010 general election Healey was elected to Parliament as the MP for the newly created constituency of Wentworth and Dearne with 50.6% of the vote and a majority of 13,920.

Healey came second in the election for the shadow cabinet in 2010, and was appointed Shadow Secretary of State for Health. He resigned from this position in 2011 in order to spend more time with his family.

At the 2015 general election Healey was re-elected as MP for Wentworth and Dearne with an increased vote share of 56.3% and a decreased majority of 13,838.

In 2015 three Rotherham Labour MPs, Kevin Barron, Sarah Champion and Healey, started a defamation legal action against UKIP MEP Jane Collins after Collins falsely alleged in a UKIP conference speech that the three MPs knew about child exploitation in Rotherham but did not intervene. In February 2017 the MPs were awarded £54,000 each in damages.

Following the election of Jeremy Corbyn as Labour Party leader, Healey was appointed Shadow Minister for Housing. He supported Owen Smith in the failed attempt to replace Jeremy Corbyn in the 2016 Labour Party leadership election. Following the leadership election, Healey was appointed Shadow Secretary of State for Housing in October 2016.

At the snap 2017 general election Healey was again re-elected, with an increased vote share of 65% and an increased majority of 14,803. He was again re-elected at the 2019 general election, with a decreased vote share of 40.3% and a decreased majority of 2,165.

Shadow cabinet

Following the election of Keir Starmer as leader of the Labour party, Healey was appointed Shadow Secretary of State for Defence in 2020.

As Shadow Secretary of State for Defence, Healey has repeatedly stressed his support for Ukraine in the Russo-Ukrainian war since Russia's invasion in 2022, endorsed the UK's support for Ukraine, and committed to continue Britain's support for Ukraine in any future Labour government. In May 2024, Healey visited Kyiv along with Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs David Lammy and met the head of the President's Office Andriy Yermak and Defence Minister Rustem Umerov. In a joint statement, Healey and Lammy stated: "The next Labour government's commitment to Ukraine will be ironclad, and European security will be our first foreign and defence priority."

Healey has argued in favour of higher spending on the British military with a larger armed force, closer co-operation and leadership with NATO and European nations over security and defence matters, and for a "comprehensive UK-Germany defence and security pact". Healey has said that NATO will need to do more "heavy-lifting' in Europe, as the winner of the 2024 US Presidential Election is likely to prioritise the threat of China.

In April 2024, Healey committed to raising Britain's defence spending to 2.5% of Britain's GDP by 2030 and commissioning a strategic review of the threats to Britain and its capabilities. In June 2024, he and Starmer announced Labour's nuclear deterrent "triple lock", pledging to build four Dreadnought-class submarines to replace Britain's existing Vanguard-class submarines, maintain a continuous at-sea deterrent, and deliver needed upgrades now and in future.

Healey voted in favour of British participation in the 2003 Iraq War. In 2024, he said that the decision to go to war "wasn't sound at the time" and said the lesson was that military intervention could not have a successful outcome without sufficient diplomatic, economic, and security follow-through.

Secretary of State for Defence (2024–present)

Due to the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, Healey's constituency of Wentworth and Dearne was abolished, and replaced with Rawmarsh and Conisbrough. At the 2024 general election, Healey was elected to Parliament as MP for Rawmarsh and Conisborough with 49% of the vote and a majority of 6,908. After Labour's victory at the general election, Healey was appointed Secretary of State for Defence by Starmer on 5 July. Healey visited Ukraine shortly after being appointed Defence Secretary, meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky in Odessa.

Healey alongside Starmer, attended the 2024 NATO Summit on 9 July, where he told reporters in that Britain will be the "leading European nation" in defence spending and declared that Britain will be "democracy's most reliable ally". Healey said that he acknowledged that the European members of the alliance, have to take on more responsibility in guarding both Ukraine and the west against Russia and also the need to cooperate with the US regardless of who is inside the White House.

Healey supported the government's "root and branch" defence review and hailed it as the "first of its kind" which would consider the state of the armed forces, threats to national security and the defence capabilities needed to address with ultimate the goal of spending 2.5% of national income on defence. Upon taking office, Healey said that problems in the British military were "worse than we thought" after a defence review was conducted by the new government. He noted that "these are serious times" with "rapidly increasing global threats" and said that he wanted to avoid "age-old tactics" by the armed forces over funds to back pet projects. Following a financial audit conducted by the government following the election, Healey warned of possible cuts on defence spending as "tough choices" lie ahead to tackle the £22 billion "black hole" in public finances.

On 3 September, the government announced that it had suspended 30 out of 350 export licences to Israel which faced criticism from both politicians and the Jewish community. The criticism was due to the timing of the suspension, as it took place on the same day as the funerals of six murdered hostages were held. Healey responded by saying that it was the government's "legal responsibility" to review export licences and to judge "whether there is a clear risk that anything we supply from this country could be linked to a serious violation of international humanitarian law". Healey stated that "without fear or favour" the government will subscribe to international law in reference to ICC prosecutor Karim Khan applying arrest warrants against three senior Hamas officials alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant. Healey also further stated that failure to recognise the ICC ruling will threaten global "rules-based order".

In October 2024, Healey signed the landmark Trinity House Agreement with Germany, marking a new era of defence cooperation between the two nations. To modernize the UK’s defence forces, Healey announced in November 2024 the decommissioning of outdated military assets, including five warships and 70 military aircraft. The £500 million cost-saving measure is intended to redirect funds towards advanced weaponry and capabilities. Healey launched a new Defence Industrial Strategy in December 2024 with the intent of prioritising investment in UK-based defence firms, aiming to stimulate economic growth, create jobs, and enhance national security by fostering innovation and resilience within the sector. In a move to rectify past financial inefficiencies, the UK government, under Healey's direction, reacquired approximately 36,000 military housing properties for £6 billion in January 2025. This decision is projected to save £230 million annually in rent.

Regarding the war in Ukraine, One of Healey's early actions was to direct officials to expedite military support to Ukraine, including the provision of additional artillery and 90 Brimstone missiles. Healey warned on 13 February 2025 that there can be no negotiation "about Ukraine without Ukraine" after United States President Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin agreed to begin talks to end the war.

Personal life

Healey married Jackie Bate on 25 October 1993 in Lambeth and they have one son.

References

External links

John Healey MP
''official constituency website''
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Healey, John
1960 births
Living people
People educated at St Peter's School, York
Alumni of Christ's College, Cambridge
Academics of the Open University
Ministers of state for housing of the United Kingdom
Secretaries of State for Defence (UK)
Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom
Politicians from Wakefield
UK MPs 1997–2001
UK MPs 2001–2005
UK MPs 2005–2010
UK MPs 2010–2015
UK MPs 2015–2017
UK MPs 2017–2019
UK MPs 2019–2024
UK MPs 2024–present
New Labour
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