UK prime minister Rishi Sunak has implemented a mini cabinet reshuffle following the resignation of Ben Wallace as defence secretary, one of the most important positions in Britain’s government as it supports Ukraine’s war against Russia.
Mr Wallace, who had widely flagged his intention to leave politics at the next general election, formally resigned from his post on Thursday with a warning that the UK’s defence budget must not be “hollowed out” at a time of global instability.
He has been replaced as defence secretary by Sunak loyalist Grant Shapps, who moves from the position of energy secretary. Mr Shapps’s previous cabinet role has been filled by Claire Countinho, who is seen as a rising star in the Conservative Party and entered parliament in 2019. David Johnston has been promoted from the backbenches to fill Ms Coutinho’s previous junior ministerial position at the department of education.
Mr Wallace, a former army officer, has chosen to step down months after he failed with a bid to become the next secretary general of Nato, the US-led military coalition that is at odds with Russia. It became clear that his campaign to run Nato was doomed when he failed to secure the support of US president Joe Biden. In July, the Norwegian Jens Stoltenberg agreed to stay on as Nato secretary general for another year.
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The switch comes at a crucial time for the UK, which outside of the US is the biggest military donor to Ukraine. Mr Wallace had argued strongly during his four-year tenure that the government needs to increase spending on defence.
In his resignation letter to Mr Sunak, Mr Wallace said he believed the world would become “more insecure and more unstable” over the next decade.
“I know you agree with me that we must not return to the days where defence was viewed as discretionary spending by government, and savings were achieved by hollowing out,” he wrote. “Now is the time to invest.”
Mr Wallace finished by saying that after nine years as a member of the government and nearly two decades as an MP, “it is time for me to invest in the parts of life that I neglected”.
The prime minister credited Mr Wallace with having the “strategic foresight” to recognise the threat to Ukraine from Russia early on, and for getting weapons to Ukraine even before Russia attacked it in February 2022. Mr Sunak said this helped Ukraine to repel the initial onslaught.
Addressing concerns over the impact of budget constraints on the UK’s defence budget, Mr Sunak reiterated his aspiration to raise defence spending from 2 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP – a measure of the size of the economy) to 2.5 per cent of GDP. However, there is no firm timeline for this and Mr Sunak has previously signalled it can only happen if the UK’s finances improve.
In a possible nod to Mr Wallace’s previous attempt to secure the top job at Nato, Mr Sunak concluded by telling his outgoing defence secretary that he “has more to offer public life both here and internationally”.
