Charlie Alford

Al Carns is not an “independent” voice

Post author:Jody McIntyre
Post published:26 June 2026
Post last modified:26 June 2026

Al Carns has bottled the idea of entering a Labour leadership race. The ex-Armed Forces Minister had been eager to establish himself as a supposedly “independent” voice in recent weeks, resigning from Keir Starmer’s cabinet on 11 June. Carns was previously a supporter of the Conservative Party, and his conversion to Starmer’s Labour was said to have surprised former colleagues. He was generously given the “safe” Labour seat of Birmingham Selly Oak after the previous MP, Steve McCabe, announced that he would not be standing for re-election in 2024. McCabe had served as a parliamentary chair of Labour Friends of Israel…

Leaked email reveals Canary knew about Carns leadership desires in February

Post author:Tony Gordstein
Post published:22 June 2026
Post last modified:22 June 2026

All this talk of Al Carns reminded us of an email leaked to the Canary news desk in February, which is published for the first time today. It’s a copy of an email from a (possibly fictional and satirical, although we can’t be sure) Number 10 staffer to the head of the Metropolitan police. Now that Starmer is gone, the contents are starting to look a bit eerily prophetic… From: tonygordstein@number10.gov.uk Wed 25/02/2026 17:01 To: sirmarkrowley@met.police.uk Hey Mark, I don’t have any requests this time. I’m just bored here and thought I’d give you an update on the gossip going round…

Ex-defence minister Al Carns condemns ‘unbelievable’ waste of war industry

Post author:Joe Glenton
Post published:17 June 2026
Post last modified:18 June 2026

Ex-defence minister Al Carns has condemned the waste and inefficiency of the British war machine. The former commando wants more to be spent on war. He’s wrong, but his latest interview does expose certain grim truths about the UK war machine. Carns resigned his cabinet post as a junior defence minister on 11 June, citing Starmer’s failings on the so-called Defence Investment Plan (DIP): We owe those who serve the UK the kit to do the job and the loyalty to stand by them when it's done. We are failing on both. I’ve spent my whole time in government making that…

PM hopeful Al Carns threatens more austerity to enrich arms companies

Post author:Willem Moore
Post published:14 June 2026
Post last modified:14 June 2026

According to former ministers like Al Carns, the UK is facing the imminent threat of war. In a sense, this is always true, because the UK and the US regularly initiate conflict. And while we could simply stop committing ourselves to these illegal wars of aggression, Labour MPs like Carns and Lisa Nandy are instead proposing a fresh round of austerity: Nandy: "We've got to significantly increase the amount we're spending on defence" Over the last several days I haven't seen a single interviewer question this claim. Instead the challenge to politicians making it is, are you increasing it fast enough/by…

Carns calls drones “most effective killing weapon” the same day he deploys mine hunting drones to Hormuz

Post author:The Canary
Post published:28 May 2026
Post last modified:8 June 2026

Former special forces soldier-turned-defence minister Alistair Carns boasted on Wednesday that drones were the “most effective killing weapons” at a summit in Riga, Latvia. Thousands of miles away, the Ministry of Defence posted a video of Carns on Wednesday that showed him “droning about drones” on the RFA Lyme Bay, which they said had left Gibraltar for a mine-hunting mission in the Strait of Hormuz. The post said: RFA Lyme Bay has left Gibraltar, carrying underwater drones and cutting-edge minehunting kit, ahead of a potential deployment to safeguard navigation in the Strait of Hormuz. Alistair Carns explains why this autonomous tech…