The Tories are demanding answers over whether defence secretary John Healey broke the Ministerial Code after it emerged that journalists and defence industry figures were handed hard copies of the Strategic Defence Review by the Ministry of Defence before MPs had a chance to see it. Oh…
Now shadow defence secretary James Cartlidge and shadow commons leader Jesse Norman have written to cabinet secretary Chris Wormald, asking whether Healey’s actions breached three separate sections of the Ministerial Code. The three main points of the letter are:
The Tories are going hard on Healey for Labour’s complex management of the review’s landing – all kiboshed by their failure to guarantee 3% spending anyway…
Read the full letter below:
Dear Chris,
4th June 2025
We are writing to ask you to consider whether the Secretary of State for Defence, John Healey MP, may have broken the Ministerial Code in three key areas, all in relation to the way in which he directed his Department to distribute unredacted hard copy versions of the Government’s Strategic Defence Review White Paper (the ‘SDR document’) on 2nd June 2025, the same day as the Secretary of State delivered his SDR oral statement to Parliament.
1.
Ministerial Code: ‘Publication of White and consultation papers’
8.11 states that “where commercially sensitive material is involved, no copies should be made available to the media before publication”.
We are concerned that the Secretary of State authorised the release of unredacted hard copy versions of the SDR document to be given to journalists at 10.30am on the morning of the 2nd June at least five hours before publication (when the Secretary of State would have completed his statement to Parliament); and, furthermore, we have received confirmation that the SDR document was also given to senior representatives of major defence companies at 8am on the same day, at least seven and a half hours before publication, and as markets were opening.
The fact journalists were able to see a full unredacted copy of the SDR document at 10.30am was confirmed to us in emails shared with the Shadow Defence team, inviting selected journalists to Horse Guards to read the SDR document, at 10.30am on 2nd June. Given the multi-billion pound contracts involved in any SDR, it is self-evident that this was ‘commercially sensitive material’, and that copies were made available to journalists hours before publication.
2.
Ministerial Code: ‘Ministers give accurate and truthful information to Parliament’
1.6 (c) states that ‘It is of paramount importance that ministers give accurate and truthful information to Parliament, correcting any inadvertent error at the earliest opportunity’.
In response to a point of Order that I made on 2nd June, expressing my concerns that journalists had received unredacted hard copies of the SDR hours before Parliamentarians, the Secretary of State for Defence stated:
“we have followed the procedure from the last defence review, when the shadow Defence Secretary, the hon. Member for South Suffolk, was a Defence Minister. I was the Shadow Defence Secretary at that time. We had no advance copy of the review” (Hansard, 02 June 2025, Vol. 768, Col. 40)
This can only be referring to the publication of the Defence Command Paper Refresh (DCPR) 2023, and I believe I have evidence that the then Shadow Secretary of State, John Healey MP, did receive advance copy of the review.
3.
Ministerial Code: ‘Ministers and Parliament’
9.1 states that ‘When Parliament is in session, the most important announcements of government policy should be made in the first instance in Parliament.’
In addition to trailing a number of very important announcements from the SDR in the days immediately leading up to the eventual oral statement in Parliament on 2nd June, that morning at around 10.05am the Government chose to deliver what was effectively a press conference about the SDR in Glasgow, seven hours before the Parliamentary oral statement. Of course, this press conference was given by the Prime Minister and responsibility on this point rests with him. However, it is clear that responsibility for directing how the MOD distributes its white papers rests with the Secretary of State for Defence, and we believe that choosing to distribute copies of the SDR document to journalists and the defence industry many hours before the statement to Parliament is also in breach of 9.1.
Yours sincerely,
James Cartlidge MP
Right Hon. Jesse Norman MP
Sarah Pochin at Reform Scotland’s manifesto launch event: “I really wanted to come on in a Reform tartan burka, but apparently I wasn’t allowed… One day let’s do one of these events not live-streamed. We’ll do all the naughty stuff…”