Ben Wallace has said he plans to resign at the next Cabinet reshuffle after four years as Defence Secretary.
He told The Sunday Times he would stand down as an MP at the next election but ruled out leaving “prematurely” and triggering another by-election for the Conservatives to battle.
Mr Wallace, who survived three prime ministers in his current role, played a key role in the UK’s response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and was a close ally of Boris Johnson.
His Wyre and Preston North constituency will disappear at the next election after boundary changes and he said he would not seek a new seat.
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace, centre right, with Ukrainian soldiers during a visit to Bovington Camp (Ben Birchall/PA)
“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 paper.
He suggested he will continue to call for higher defence spending, which he has campaigned for throughout his time in the role.
Mr Wallace, a former MSP, had expressed an interest in standing for the position of Nato secretary-general before it was announced the current chief, Jens Stoltenberg, had been given another year in charge.
READ MORE: Ben Wallace ‘considering leaving Government in autumn’
The minister told The Economist there were a “lot of unresolved issues” in the military alliance and “it’s not going to happen,” and he later downplayed the prospect of a future bid to run the organisation.
Last week, the Prime Minister shut down comments from Mr Wallace in which he suggested Ukraine should show “gratitude” for the military support it has been given.
Ben Wallace, centre right, meeting with Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky during talks (Ukraine Government/PA)
Mr Wallace had made the remark after the country’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, branded it “absurd” for Nato to insist there were still conditions for his nation to meet before it can gain membership once the war with Russia is over.
Mr Zelensky later said: “I believe that we were always grateful to United Kingdom.
“I don’t know what he meant and how else we should be grateful.”
The Prime Minister distanced himself from the comments, saying the Ukrainian president has “expressed his gratitude for what we’ve done on a number of occasions”.
Mr Wallace is believed to have told Rishi Sunak on June 16 of his plans to stand down from Cabinet.
READ MORE: Ben Wallace in line to replace Jens Stoltenberg at Nato
He told the Sunday Times his departure was due to the strain the job had put his family life under.
Popular within the Tory party, Mr Wallace is the longest continuously serving minister in Government, having been security minister under Theresa May before being promoted to Defence Secretary by Mr Johnson.
He was previously appointed as a whip in 2014 and a junior minister in the Northern Ireland Office in 2015 while David Cameron was prime minister.
Mr Wallace ruled himself out of the running for the Conservative leadership last year, despite being an early frontrunner in the race to replace Mr Johnson.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel