Former Armed Forces minister Al Carns has refused to return to government under Andy Burnham, saying he could not accept a ministerial role while the row over defence spending that prompted his resignation remained unresolved.
Aberdonian Mr Carns, who resigned last month alongside John Healey over the previous government's defence spending plans, said he had been offered a post as prisons minister but declined because “the argument I resigned over has not yet been settled”.
He added: “Until the country is spending what it needs to spend on its own defence, my job is to keep making that case, honestly and constructively, from the back benches.”
Mr Carns welcomed Mr Healey’s appointment as Chancellor, saying: “He is a man of his word and he has made it clear that he will deliver on the commitments that led him to leave government in the first place.”
The move comes as the new government continues to face pressure to set out a timetable for increasing defence spending to 3% of GDP.