That is one of the options being mooted as the “Epstein scandal” threatens to knock out current Prime Minister Keir Starmer. “A lesser known name has emerged” in the debate over who will replace Starmer; “Alistair ‘Al’ Carns, the Armed Forces minister, is being touted in some quarters as having an outside chance to move into No 10,” UK’s iPaper reported today](https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/royal-marine-touted-next-pm-4223460).
While relatively new to politics (he was only elected a Member of Parliament in 2024), Carns is being promoted because he is military. “What he does have going for him is a highly distinguished previous career in the Armed Forces,” iPaper wrote. “His impressive career outside politics would no doubt endear him to the British public, whose admiration for those who have served in uniform is beyond question.”
Carns served in the Royal Marines Special Forces for 24 years, and was slated to move up in rank from colonel to Brigadier General when he left active duty. He did four tours of duty in Afghanistan, and served as a military adviser to three Defense Secretaries (all Conservatives it appears: Michael Fallon, Gavin Williamson and Penny Mordaunt). While serving as an MP, he signed up as a reservist to keep up his “action-packed military lifestyle,” as the iPaper puts it. He further built up his fame by climbing Mount Everest last May. “Carns’s physical courage and military glamour has helped build a media profile which has led to him being discussed as a potential leadership candidate,” the iPaper pronounced.
Cairns is also right up there in the “prepare for the coming war with Russia” faction in London. The Guardian floated his name as a possible PM candidate on December 13, 2025, citing his alleged military prowess and his Russophobia. He was quoted: “The shadow of war is knocking on Europe’s door once more. That’s the reality. We’ve got to be prepared to deter it… Collectively, everybody—what is their role if we get caught in an existential crisis, and what do they need to be aware they need to do and what they can’t do, and how do we mobilize the nation to support a military endeavor?”
