2023-08-31 10:05:30
British Defense Minister Ben Wallace at NATO headquarters in Brussels on June 15, 2023. SIMON WOHLFAHRT / AFP
British Defense Minister Ben Wallace has formally resigned, announced Downing Street Thursday August 31. Ben Wallace, 53, had declared during the summer his intention to withdraw from political life, after nine years in government, including four in defense.
“I was elected as an MP in 2005 and after so many years it is time to invest in the aspects of life that I have neglected and to explore new opportunities”he wrote in his resignation letter published by the services of the Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, who must quickly announce the name of his successor.
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Redesign
The British press estimated that this planned change would be part of a broader reshuffle allowing Rishi Sunak to prepare for the legislative elections, scheduled for next year and which promise to be difficult for the conservatives, in power for thirteen years, facing the workers. But the latest information suggests that this renewal will come later in the fall.
Ben Wallace has played a key role in Western countries’ support for Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion in February 2022. Candidate for the post of Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), he failed to obtain the approval of the United States, and the Norwegian Jens Stoltenberg was renewed.
Elected to the British Parliament for eighteen years, Ben Wallace is the person who has remained the longest in the Ministry of Defense since Winston Churchill. He took office in 2019, after serving as Theresa May’s security minister.
He is the only minister in charge of a leading portfolio to have remained in office in the last three governments: that of his ally Boris Johnson, that, ephemeral, of Liz Truss, and finally that of Rishi Sunak.
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