Ben Wallace: The Former Junior Army Officer Running for Top NATO Job
Ben Wallace: The Former Junior Army Officer Running for Top NATO Job
Sputnik International
British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has thrown his hat into the ring to be the next NATO secretary-general. But who is the ambitious cabinet minister and what can we expect from him as head of the US-led military bloc?
With Norway's Jens Stoltenberg stepping down in the autumn, political figures from across Europe are jockeying to replace him.British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is reportedly lobbying US President Joe Biden to back his Defense Secretary Ben Wallace to fill the former Norwegian PM's boots as the public face of the military bloc.Wallace has held the defense portfolio since July 2019, when Boris Johnson took over as prime minister from Theresa May. He had previously only had two junior minister jobs. Since then, he has survived two changes of prime minister and has seen five chancellors of the exchequer, four home secretaries, and three foreign secretaries come and go.Matthew Gordon-Banks, a former Conservative MP and senior research fellow at the UK Defence Academy, told Sputnik that Wallace was a popular member of the government, seen as "a safe pair of hands" by other politicians.Army RootsLike many Conservative MPs, the 53-year-old minister comes from a middle-class family, was privately educated, and has served in the armed forces. His father was an officer in the 1st Kings Dragoon Guards and fought in the counter-insurgency in Malaya — from where photographs emerged of British soldiers collecting the severed heads of communist guerrillas.Wallace himself graduated from the British Army's Sandhurst College in 1991 and was soon afterwards commissioned into the Scots Guards as a second lieutenant. That followed a brief stint as a skiing instructor in Austria, coincidentally echoing the background of Ian Fleming's fictional spy James Bond.Like his father, the young officer saw his share of service in dirty wars and overseas. From 1991 to 1998, Wallace served in Germany, Cyprus, Belize, and Northern Ireland, where the unit he commanded captured an entire IRA cell preparing a bomb attack on British troops. He was on duty on the night of Princess Diana's death in a car accident in Paris in 1997, and was part of a detail sent to bring her remains back to the UK.He retired from active service in 1998, two years after being promoted to the rank of captain, saying he was not interested in a senior role that would mean not commanding troops in the field, and went into politics.Political AmbitionsWallace was elected as a Conservative member of the newly-established devolved Scottish Parliament in 1999 — despite hailing from Kent in southeast England — but stood down in 2003 in search of a seat in the Westminster Parliament.For the next two years, he was overseas director for military aerospace firm QinetiQ, formerly the state-owned Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA), before his election as the MP for Lancaster and Wyre in 2005, winning the seat from Labour with a majority of 4,000, which has since grown to 17,000.Wallace could be giving up a shot at succeeding Sunak as Conservative Party leader and potentially as PM, however. The latest "Cabinet League Table" survey of party members by Tory grassroots website Conservative Home put Wallace top for the 16th month in a row with an approval rating of 85 percent — way above Sunak's 22 percent.But the defense secretary stayed out of the two Conservative leadership contests in 2022 to replace Boris Johnson and his short-lived successor Liz Truss.Baiting the BearWallace has made his reputation among the jingoistic tendency of the Tories for confrontation with Russia — although he was initially eclipsed by Truss on her widely-ridiculed trip to Moscow for talks with Foreign Affairs Minister Sergey Lavrov.The defense secretary paid his own visit shortly afterwards, where he showed respect to Britain's allies in the war against Nazism by laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Moscow.But since then, he has been at the forefront of NATO's saber-rattling towards Russia. He organized arms supplies to Ukraine months before the Russian special military operation (SMO) there, and has since overseen the export of around 20 AS-90 self-propelled howitzers, 14 Challenger 2 tanks — along with highly-toxic depleted uranium munitions — and most recently Storm Shadow cruise missiles.Wallace has also demanded increased defense spending — ironically while downsizing the standing army — which will soon reach 2.25 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).Regardless of who replaces Stoltenberg, the next NATO chief will "talk up the need for extra defense spending by NATO member countries, not least as current capabilities and weapon stocks are low," he argued. But "it is unlikely there will be a major increase in the next few years as European members are finding the economic situation very challenging," the defense expert noted, pointing out that the US was the "major voice" in NATO and the only member with an "almost limitless desire to increase defense spending, albeit on largely overseas operations little to do with the American homeland."The former MP lamented that the alliance had "lost its way" since the end of the Cold War and squandered the peace dividend of a world that had arguably become safer.
british defence secretary ben wallace, nato secretary-general jens stoltenberg, who will replace jens stoltenberg as nato general-secretary, nato's expansion into eastern europe, nato's confrontation with russia, russia's special military operation in ukraine
british defence secretary ben wallace, nato secretary-general jens stoltenberg, who will replace jens stoltenberg as nato general-secretary, nato's expansion into eastern europe, nato's confrontation with russia, russia's special military operation in ukraine
Ben Wallace: The Former Junior Army Officer Running for Top NATO Job
British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace has thrown his hat into the ring to be the next NATO secretary general. But who is the ambitious Cabinet minister and what can we expect from him as head of the US-led military bloc?
With Norway's Jens Stoltenberg stepping down in the autumn, political figures from across Europe are jockeying to replace him.
Wallace has held the defense portfolio since July 2019, when Boris Johnson took over as prime minister from Theresa May. He had previously only had two junior minister jobs. Since then, he has survived two changes of prime minister and has seen five chancellors of the exchequer, four home secretaries, and three foreign secretaries come and go.
Matthew Gordon-Banks, a former Conservative MP and senior research fellow at the UK Defence Academy, told Sputnik that Wallace was a popular member of the government, seen as "a safe pair of hands" by other politicians.
While he did not think Sunak wanted to lose Wallace from his Cabinet, the PM "would appreciate having a Briton in the job, even if that means a by-election in a parliamentary constituency which the Conservatives could lose outside a general election."
Army Roots
Like many Conservative MPs, the 53-year-old minister comes from a middle-class family, was privately educated, and has served in the armed forces. His father was an officer in the 1st Kings Dragoon Guards and fought in the counter-insurgency in Malaya — from where photographs emerged of British soldiers collecting the severed heads of communist guerrillas.
Wallace himself graduated from the British Army's Sandhurst College in 1991 and was soon afterwards commissioned into the Scots Guards as a second lieutenant. That followed a brief stint as a skiing instructor in Austria, coincidentally echoing the background of Ian Fleming's fictional spy James Bond.
Like his father, the young officer saw his share of service in dirty wars and overseas. From 1991 to 1998, Wallace served in Germany, Cyprus, Belize, and Northern Ireland, where the unit he commanded captured an entire IRA cell preparing a bomb attack on British troops. He was on duty on the night of Princess Diana's death in a car accident in Paris in 1997, and was part of a detail sent to bring her remains back to the UK.
He retired from active service in 1998, two years after being promoted to the rank of captain, saying he was not interested in a senior role that would mean not commanding troops in the field, and went into politics.
Wallace was elected as a Conservative member of the newly-established devolved Scottish Parliament in 1999 — despite hailing from Kent in southeast England — but stood down in 2003 in search of a seat in the Westminster Parliament.
For the next two years, he was overseas director for military aerospace firm QinetiQ, formerly the state-owned Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA), before his election as the MP for Lancaster and Wyre in 2005, winning the seat from Labour with a majority of 4,000, which has since grown to 17,000.
Wallace could be giving up a shot at succeeding Sunak as Conservative Party leader and potentially as PM, however. The latest "Cabinet League Table" survey of party members by Tory grassroots website Conservative Home put Wallace top for the 16th month in a row with an approval rating of 85 percent — way above Sunak's 22 percent.
But the defense secretary stayed out of the two Conservative leadership contests in 2022 to replace Boris Johnson and his short-lived successor Liz Truss.
"He could have possibly succeeded to the UK premiership at one point following the resignation of Liz Truss, but he chose to stay at defense," Gordon-Banks noted. "He clearly would like to take over from Jens Stoltenberg" at NATO, and while "he may not be quite as bellicose as Stoltenberg, there is little doubt that the current NATO narrative would be safe in his hands."
Wallace has made his reputation among the jingoistic tendency of the Tories for confrontation with Russia — although he was initially eclipsed by Truss on her widely-ridiculed trip to Moscow for talks with Foreign Affairs Minister Sergey Lavrov.
The defense secretary paid his own visit shortly afterwards, where he showed respect to Britain's allies in the war against Nazism by laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Moscow.
In this handout photo released by the Russian Defense Ministry, UK Defense Minister Ben Wallace attends a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier by the Kremlin Wall, in Moscow, Russia.
In this handout photo released by the Russian Defense Ministry, UK Defense Minister Ben Wallace attends a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier by the Kremlin Wall, in Moscow, Russia.
In this handout photo released by the Russian Defense Ministry, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu meets UK Defense Minister Ben Wallace in Moscow, Russia
In this handout photo released by the Russian Defense Ministry, UK Defense Minister Ben Wallace attends a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier by the Kremlin Wall, in Moscow, Russia.
In this handout photo released by the Russian Defense Ministry, UK Defense Minister Ben Wallace attends a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier by the Kremlin Wall, in Moscow, Russia.
In this handout photo released by the Russian Defense Ministry, Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu meets UK Defense Minister Ben Wallace in Moscow, Russia
But since then, he has been at the forefront of NATO's saber-rattling towards Russia. He organized arms supplies to Ukraine months before the Russian special military operation (SMO) there, and has since overseen the export of around 20 AS-90 self-propelled howitzers, 14 Challenger 2 tanks — along with highly-toxic depleted uranium munitions — and most recently Storm Shadow cruise missiles.
British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace, left, shakes hands with Ukrainian Minister of Defense Oleksii Reznikov during a visit to Kiev
Wallace has also demanded increased defense spending — ironically while downsizing the standing army — which will soon reach 2.25 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).
"He has followed the US/NATO line on matters relating to Ukraine, including repetition of the line that Russia's SMO into Ukraine was completely unprovoked, ignoring many events in the years running up to 2022," Gordon-Banks said.
Regardless of who replaces Stoltenberg, the next NATO chief will "talk up the need for extra defense spending by NATO member countries, not least as current capabilities and weapon stocks are low," he argued.
But "it is unlikely there will be a major increase in the next few years as European members are finding the economic situation very challenging," the defense expert noted, pointing out that the US was the "major voice" in NATO and the only member with an "almost limitless desire to increase defense spending, albeit on largely overseas operations little to do with the American homeland."
The former MP lamented that the alliance had "lost its way" since the end of the Cold War and squandered the peace dividend of a world that had arguably become safer.
"It has expanded much further to the east than promised — one of the major reasons Russia has finally felt it necessary to ensure the neutrality of Ukraine and the protection of Russian speakers in East Ukraine — and is even setting up an office in Japan," Gordon-Banks stressed. "It is an elephant which is getting out of control and having to seek or create new conflicts to justify its continued existence."
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