In less than two years in office, Sir Keir Starmer has suffered many a damaging resignation from his top team.

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When Angela Rayner was forced to quit as Deputy Prime Minister and Housing Secretary last autumn over an unpaid tax bill, it cost the government one of its most authentic communicators.

When Morgan McSweeney departed as Starmer’s Chief of Staff over the Mandelson affair, the PM lost his closest political ally.

And when Wes Streeting flounced out of the Department of Health and Social Care last month, he launched an excoriating attack on Starmer’s leadership, or lack of it.

But of all the resignations since Labour came to power in July 2024, the loss of John Healey as Defence Secretary is the most politically damaging of all. Unlike the others, Healey’s........

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