Luke Pollard, Minister for Defence Readiness and Industry, has publicly declared he will not resign his post despite acknowledging the pressure on Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer from within the Labour Party.
Pollard, who represents Plymouth Sutton and Devonport, posted a series of statements on X on 12 May citing national security as his reason for remaining in post.
“With our troops deployed round the world, with threats building towards the UK and our allies my responsibility as Defence Minister is to put our country first and provide continuity and consistency for our armed forces and defence sector at a highly uncertain time,” he said.
“Whatever is happening elsewhere in British politics, national security is the first responsibility of government and something I take very seriously. That is why I will not be resigning, and will be continuing to support our efforts to rearm, rebuild our forces and protect the UK,” he added.
With our troops deployed round the world, with threats building towards the UK and our allies my responsibility as Defence Minister is to put our country first and provide continuity and consistency for our armed forces and defence sector at a highly uncertain time.
— Luke Pollard MP (@LukePollard) May 12, 2026
Pollard acknowledged the pressure on the Prime Minister but made clear that he considers his own position in relation to the demands of the brief rather than party politics. At a moment when British forces are deployed across multiple theatres, when HMS Dragon is heading to the Middle East ahead of a potential Strait of Hormuz mission, his argument for continuity at the MoD has a practical basis.
The remarks come as Starmer faces the most serious crisis of his premiership. More than 70 Labour MPs have publicly called on the Prime Minister to resign or set out a timetable for departure following the party’s performance in last week’s local elections, in which Labour lost control of more than 30 councils across England and suffered losses in Welsh and Scottish parliamentary elections. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has been among the most prominent voices calling for Starmer to stand down, and several ministerial aides have already resigned.
Starmer has so far refused to go, arguing in a speech on Monday that a change of leadership would plunge the country into the kind of chaos that characterised the final years of the Conservative government. His office issued a statement insisting he does not intend to quit. To formally trigger a leadership contest, opponents would need 81 signatures in support of a challenger, equivalent to a fifth of Labour’s parliamentary seats.
You do wonder what all those people calling for Kier Starmers head that proclaim to be patriots think is going to happen if he steps down now.
At best it will be a 6 month protracted leadership contest followed by another year of “planning” then an election followed by several hung parliaments or a prime minister with a lot of history of not supporting Ukraine while being paid by the kremlin and shadowy crypto brows in Thailand.
And half the commentators on here voted for exactly that.
🤦♂️ Bitter Much 😁😁😁
What’s your view on Brexit Jim ? 🤣🤣🤣
Not Jim, but bad idea geopolitically, okay idea financially.
Seems to me that the opposition parties are just sitting back watching Labour tear themselves apart without any help at all!
Just as an aside on BREXIT IF the politician’s(all parties) had actually carried out the instruction from the voters and not fought the process every step of the way I dare say it could have very well gone a lot better😉
True words.
Shame they didn’t listen to the concerns about mass Immigration too I guess.
Given the opposition in his own party only offer tax cuts and increased spending and that no one from any party (including the one who said Brexit was a good idea) will mention raising more (increased tax is the only guaranteed way of managing that) and spending less (welfare is the obvious target) I think we (the nation) are snookered either way.
The nation has become used to the winter fuel allowance, pension triple Lock and free bus passes even though most do not benefit.
Exemplary behaviour from Pollard. Keep calm and carry on 🙂
We’ve had more Defence Ministers than Spurs have had Managers.
Same dire results too ! ⚽
A bit like comparing Spurs Trophy Cabinet with Government Military Inventory.
One kicks a ball, the other kicks the can !
Half time score: Kier Starmer 1, 80 odd hysterical, spineless MPs and Jess Phillips ( who?) , nil.
Fair enough. I’m not getting involved just doing the job sort of statement.
Let’s just hope the DIP gets published before Starmer ends up getting pushed.. because there is no hope after the Labour party goes into leadership meltdown.
Actually I was thinking the opposite and that we can kiss goodbye to the DIP for another 12 months. I am thinking Reeves would latch on to any old excuse not to increase any Defence spending. Uncertainty in leadership and direction is as good as it gets.
I can’t figure if Pollard’s ruling out resigning in protest to the Prime Minister’s current position (and being force to say DIP ten times a day, every day for months), or ruling out going if the Prime Minister is forced to resign. Or both. Or neither. Why would he even rule it out? It’s bizarre. Is he angling for Healey’s job?