UK defence secretary Ben Wallace has announced he is stepping down as an MP at the next election.
Mr Wallace, the longest-serving conservative defence minister, told the Times ‘I’m not standing next time.’
‘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. What are they for? Secret, secret and secret.’
But the MP also ruled out stepping down ‘prematurely’ and triggering a by-election.
Mr Wallace also confirmed he would leave the cabinet at the next reshuffle, which is expected to be held this autumn.
He says he originally wanted to leave his post in the summer, but was persuded not to in order to avoid contributing to the narrative of Tory decline.
His announcement comes following a controversy earlier this week when the minister advised Kyiv to ‘show more gratitude’ to its western allies for supplying them with weapons to fight Russia.
The defence secretary bemoaned travelling to Ukraine last year only to be presented with a shopping list of weapons.
‘You know, we’re not Amazon,’ he said. ‘I told them that last year, when I drove 11 hours to be given a list.’
His remarks were swiftly rebuked by Rishi Sunak, who distanced himself from the comments and told reporters at a Nato summit in Lithuania that Ukrainian president Zelensky had ‘expressed his gratitude for what we’ve done on a number of occasions’.
Speculation about the defence secretary’s fate has been mounting for weeks, with officials inside the Ministry of Defence wondering who might replace him.
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