Wallace to resign as UK defence secretary at next Cabinet reshuffle: Report

LONDON – Britain’s Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has said he will step down during the next reshuffling of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Cabinet, the London-based Times reported.

“I’m not standing next time,” he told the Times, but ruled out going “prematurely” and forcing a by-election.

“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 said.

The next Cabinet reshuffling is expected in September and he will not stand in the next general election, the Times said.

Mr Wallace, 53, replaced Ms Penny Mordaunt as defence secretary when Mr Boris Johnson took charge as prime minister in 2019.

He has retained the post under two subsequent premiers, Ms Liz Truss and Mr Sunak, and has helped shape the United Kingdom’s response to

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

 

Most recently, Mr Wallace’s ambitions to win the top job at Nato were dashed when

the military alliance extended Mr Jens Stoltenberg’s tenure

as secretary-general for another year.

Last month, United States President Joe Biden said that Mr Wallace would be “very qualified” to lead the US-led Nato, but stopped short of backing his bid.

Mr Wallace won notoriety at this past week’s Nato summit in Vilnius after telling reporters that

Ukrainian officials should show “a bit of gratitude”

for the billions of dollars in military aid from allies.

“You know, we’re not Amazon,” he said.  

Mr Wallace told Mr Sunak of his plans on Sunday but had hoped to make the announcement over the summer, when it would not have contributed to the narrative of Conservative Party decline, the Times reported. 

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