GB News thrown into chaos as John Healey interview dogged by technical issues

and Ellie Costello were left hanging on Breakfast as an unexpected pause occurred during an interview with Secretary of State for Defence . The minister was appearing on the show to discuss defence spending when everything suddenly went quiet as he finished answering a question. He continued to sit there but no sound was heard. Ellie Costello eventually jumped in with a question responding to his previous statement asking: "How are you going to do that?" Healey appeared to be about to respond but Eamonn Holmes jumped in. "Oh, I think John's lost communication," he said. "John, can- can you hear okay?" Holmes asked as Healey responded: "I can hear perfect. I can hear you. Can you hear me?"

The confusion came after he had been discussing the Armed Forces review and the governments plans to grow the number of people signing up to the various branches.

"This review is the first for a generation that doesn't look to hollow out our Armed Forces further.

"Instead, it looks to build out, build out the forces, grow the forces and grow jobs on troop numbers," he said.

"The review said, look, there's a case for a small uplift. And I was able to confirm yesterday that, proud to say the first Defence Secretary, this is the first government for decades that is not looking to cut numbers further.

"We will reverse, reverse the long term decline, and we will grow the strength of the British army to at least 76,000 into the next parliament."

He also confirmed a "record uplift in defence spending" during his appearance."What he said,,, the Prime Minister yesterday, was, we are committed to spending what we need to deliver this review.

The review is based on the government spending plans, not just the aim to hit 3% in the next parliament, but the confirmation that three years early, in two years time, we'll hit 2.5% of GDP on defence.

"That's a level we've not spent in this country for 15 years, and it's part of a record uplift in defence spending, the largest since the end of the Cold War.

"It starts this month, this this this year, with an extra £5 billion. It means that I can get on as Defence Secretary by putting into action some of the recommendations in the review," he said.