British Defense Minister: We will find ourselves in conflict and we will be in a difficult situation
British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace announced in an interview published on Saturday that he will step down in the upcoming cabinet reshuffle and will not contest the next general election.
Wallace played a prominent role in the efforts of the Western allies to support Ukraine against Russia, and Britain proposed him to succeed Jens Stoltenberg as Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). But he did not gain the decisive support of the United States to take office, and Stoltenberg’s term at the head of the coalition was extended.
The newspaper “Sunday Times” quoted him as saying: “I will not run (for parliament) in the upcoming elections.”
The newspaper said Wallace told Prime Minister Rishi Sunak last month of his intention not to stand in the general elections that will be held by the end of next year.
But he will not resign “prematurely” from Parliament to avoid holding by-elections, and will resign from the position of Minister of Defense in the next cabinet reshuffle expected before September, according to his interview with the “Sunday Times”.
Ben Wallace, 53, said the decision not to run was not due to his belief that the Conservatives would lose to the Labor Party, which is leading in opinion polls, but rather because his constituency in north-west England was canceled under the recent changes in delimitation of constituencies.
Wallace, a former British army officer, has been a member of parliament for 18 years and is the longest-serving Conservative defense minister since the late Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
He is the only senior minister to survive the turbulent transition of the premiership from his political ally Boris Johnson to Liz Terrace and then Rishi Sunak.
He had held the security portfolio under Theresa May before becoming defense minister in 2019.
Wallace has strong support from members of the Conservative Party, and has long been a candidate for leadership of the party, but he never ran for office.
Ben Wallace said that among his achievements was an increase in the defense budget by 24 billion pounds ($ 31 billion), saying that increased defense spending will be necessary in the coming years.
He predicted that the world would be “more dangerous and more insecure” by the end of the decade.
He added, “I think we will find ourselves in conflict. Whether it is cold or hot, I think we will be in a difficult situation.”
The British Defense Secretary did not rule out that Britain might be drawn into a conflict in Africa against armed groups, and expressed concern about the impact of Chinese expansion in the South China Sea on regional policies and nuclear proliferation.
Regarding Ukraine, he said that if the war is lost, Russian President Vladimir Putin might look for new targets, such as submarine cables that secure Western communications and energy supplies.
(AFP)
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2023-07-15 21:38:47
