Britain’s Defense Secretary, Ben Wallace, set to step down in the upcoming UK government cabinet, he resigned. Energy Security and Net Zero Secretary Grant Shapps will replace him.
Britain’s Defense Secretary Ben Wallace, who last month announced he would step down in the next UK government cabinet reshuffle, has resigned, the prime minister’s office said Thursday.
Wallace has been in the UK parliament for 18 years, and is the longest-serving Conservative defense secretary since Winston Churchill.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s office announced Shapps’ appointment, around an hour after he was seen entering 10 Downing Street.
Shapps wrote on social media that he was “honored” to be appointed, saying Wallace had made an “enormous contribution” to UK defense and global security.
“I am looking forward to working with the brave men and women of our armed forces who defend our nation’s security,” he said on X, formerly Twitter.
“And continuing the UK’s support for Ukraine in their fight against Putin’s barbaric invasion.”
In a letter to Wallace, 53, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak praised the “dedication and skill” he brought to the role that saw him take a leading role in Western allies’ support for Ukraine against Russia.
Wallace, a former army officer and a close ally of former prime minister Boris Johnson, had been the UK’s pick to succeed Jens Stoltenberg as NATO secretary general.
But he failed to get crucial US backing to replace him, and Stoltenberg has now extended his term at the head of the alliance.
He said after announcing his intention to resign in July that the decision was not because he thought the ruling Conservatives, currently trailing the main opposition Labour Party in the polls, would lose the next election, but because his constituency in northwest England was being scrapped under boundary changes.
Wallace said in an interview in July that he counted among his achievements boosting the defense budget by £24 billion ($31 billion) and said higher defense spending would be crucial in the years ahead.
Miroslava Salazar, with AFP
