UK: Defense Secretary to step down in next reshuffle

Ben Wallace, Britain’s defense secretary, will step down during the next government reshuffle, expected in September, the Sunday Times newspaper said on Saturday July 15, which published an interview with him. “He has decided to leave the government at the next reshuffle,” write the British media, to whom Ben Wallace confided that he would “not present himself” in the next UK general election, due before the end of the year.

Ben Wallace, 53, has played a key role in helping Western countries support Ukraine since the Russian invasion began in February 2022. As a candidate for the post of Secretary General of NATO, he received no support from the United States. and the Norwegian Jens Stoltenberg was reappointed. He said he took the decision not because he believed the Tories would lose to Labour, who are positive in the polls, but because his constituency in north-west England would be abolished following a change in constituency divisions.

In office since 2019

Elected to the UK Parliament for 18 years, Ben Wallace is the person who has stayed at the Ministry of Defense longest since Winston Churchill took office in 2019 after serving as Theresa May’s Security Secretary. He is the only minister to hold a senior portfolio and to have held office in the last three governments: that of his ally Boris Johnson, the short-lived of Liz Truss and finally that of Rishi Sunak.

Ben Wallace said he counted among his achievements in office the £24 billion increase in the defense budget. The world will be “a lot less safe” by the end of the decade, he told the Sunday Times. “I think we’re going to have a conflict. Whether it’s a cold conflict or a hot one, I think we’re going to be in a difficult position,” he added. The UK could become embroiled in a conflict in Africa against groups linked to al Qaeda and Islamic State, he suggested.

He also expressed concern about Chinese expansionism in the South China Sea in view of the regional situation and nuclear proliferation. Referring to Ukraine, he said Russian President Vladimir Putin could “freak out” if he lost and would seek new targets, such as undersea cables carrying communications and energy supplies to the West.