After a four-year tenure as the UK’s Defense Secretary, Ben Wallace will be stepping down at the next Cabinet reshuffle, expected in September.
Wallace, 53, told The Sunday Times he would also not seek re-election as an MP at the next general election, but ruled out leaving “prematurely,” which would trigger an unwanted by-election for the Tories.
“I went into politics in the Scottish Parliament in 1999. That’s 24 years. I’ve spent well over seven years with three phones by my bed,” he told the publication.
Putting down rumors that his departure had anything to do with last week’s row over comments the Secretary had made about Ukraine, when he said that the West was not Amazon when it came to meeting Kyiv’s demands for more weapons, Wallace stressed that while he was “proud to have worked with so many amazing people and helped contribute to protecting this great country, the cost of putting that ahead of my family” was something he was “very sad about.”
Wallace has been a staunch ally of fellow Tory and former PM Borish Johnson and is known as something of a rock in the maelstrom that is contemporary British politics. Wallace survived the unceremonious fall of Johnson’s successor Lizz Truss, remaining in the job under current Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
Under Johnson’s predecessors, Theresa May and David Cameron, Wallace held other high-ranking posts in government, making him the one official who has continuously held such posts for the longest time.
The British defense secretary had expressed interest in taking over from current NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg, telling German media he had “always said it would be a good job. That’s a job I’d like. But I’m also loving the job I do now.”
A few weeks ago, he, with some disappointment, told The Economist he was “out of the race,” and that “it was not going to happen,” as the U.S. wanted Stoltenberg to stay on.
Earlier this month, Stoltenberg’s mandate was extended for another year, a stretch he is to conclude on October 1st, 2024.
In his interview with The Sunday Times, Wallace, who has been one of the most vocal supporters of Ukraine in its war with Russia, even ventured to say that by 2030 the world was “going to be much more unsafe, more insecure. I think we will find ourselves in a conflict. Whether it is a cold or a warm conflict, I think we’ll be in a difficult position.”
To meet that challenge, he added, the UK government needed to spend more on defense in the face of threats such as Russia, China, and terrorist groups like al-Qaeda and Isis.
Wallace’s warning comes before a long-awaited defense command paper, expected to be formally presented in Parliament on Tuesday, July 18th, which—as part of a wider overhaul—would cut the number of regular troops, reducing the UK’s army to its smallest size since the Napoleonic wars.
