Ben Wallace Pledges Support for Ukraine as He Announces Resignation Plans
Key Highlights :
Ben Wallace, the current UK Defence Secretary, has announced his plans to resign at the next Cabinet reshuffle after four years in the job. The Wyre and Preston North MP has also said he will not seek a new seat at the next election, as his constituency is due to disappear after boundary changes.
The announcement came after Mr Wallace suggested Ukraine should show “gratitude” for the military support it has been given, prompting a rebuke from the country’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky. Mr Wallace has since pledged his support for Ukraine, saying his remark was not a comment about governments, but “more about citizens and members of parliaments”.
The minister has been an important figure in the UK’s response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and has been a close ally of Boris Johnson throughout his time in office. He has campaigned for higher defence spending, and had expressed an interest in standing for the position of Nato secretary-general before it was announced the chief, Jens Stoltenberg, had been given another year in charge.
Mr Wallace told The Sunday Times he had spent “well over seven years with three phones by my bed”, and said he had gone into politics in 1999, making it 24 years of service. He added that he would not leave “prematurely” and trigger another by-election for the Conservatives to battle.
The Prime Minister shut down Mr Wallace’s suggestion that Ukraine should show “gratitude” for the military support it has been given. 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.”
In response to the criticism, Mr Wallace tweeted: “My comments about how best to support Ukraine caused a lot of interest and were somewhat misrepresented. For the record, as someone who has been at the forefront of mobilising support for Ukraine, I have discussed the challenges that may arise as we work towards the common goal of helping Ukraine get what it needs to defeat this illegal invasion. I said that Ukraine sometimes needs to realise that in many countries and in some parliaments there is not such strong support as in Great Britain.”
Mr Wallace is popular within the Tory party, and is the longest continuously serving minister in Government. He was security minister under Theresa May before being promoted to defence secretary by Mr Johnson, and was also appointed as a whip in 2014 and a junior minister in the Northern Ireland Office in 2015 while David Cameron was prime minister.
As Ben Wallace announces his resignation plans, he has pledged his support for Ukraine and its people, and expressed his gratitude for the support the UK has given the country in the face of the illegal invasion. It is clear that his dedication and commitment to the job has been unwavering, and he will be remembered fondly by many for his service.
