Just when you thought British politics couldn't get any more wild, senior government officials are now preparing to lobby incoming Prime Minister Andy Burnham to bring back "war bonds." Yes, you read that correctly: the establishment is so desperate for cash to fund our depleted military that they want to borrow heavily under the banner of "defense bonds," bypassing the Treasury bean-counters who have spent years blocking the idea. This is the state of the UK's defense transition as Burnham prepares to take the keys to Downing Street.

The scramble behind the scenes has been intense. During the recent byelection campaign, defense aides literally traveled all the way to Makerfield just to brief Burnham's team on the absolute state of the UK's depleted military capabilities. It turns out that decades of bureaucratic mismanagement have left the armed forces in a dire position, and now the top brass are panicking and begging the incoming administration for immediate financial relief.

Meanwhile, outgoing PM Keir Starmer is trying to pull a classic fast one. He has confirmed that he will announce the long-awaited Defence Investment Plan (Dip) right before the NATO summit in Ankara on July 7 and 8—even though he is literally leaving office the very next week. This rushed move has triggered a massive backlash from his own Labour MPs, who are rightfully asking why a lame-duck prime minister is locking in a £13.5 billion spending commitment instead of letting his successor handle it.

The defense funding row has already claimed its first major casualty. Earlier this week, John Healey rage-quit as defense secretary, pushing Starmer’s premiership to the absolute brink. Healey’s exit was sparked by his belief that the £13.5 billion plan was a complete joke that fell way short of what the military actually needs. Burnham has already held private chats with Healey to figure out how to clean up this mess.

While Burnham’s allies are hinting that he might just accept the Dip if they find a little extra pocket change to quiet down the military leaders, his team is keeping their options open. They have reserved the right to completely rip up and reopen the plan if it doesn't fix historically mismanaged disaster programs—specifically pointing out the embarrassing state of our tank and heavy armor investments.

To fund this massive cleanup, the MoD wants to borrow big. The Treasury has always been the ultimate party pooper here, consistently blocking these "defense bonds" because they are terrified of what massive borrowing will do to the economy. But interest in the scheme runs deep; even Starmer's former chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, was reportedly involved in previous near-miss attempts to issue these bonds before the Treasury shut them down.