Noooooo, Ben Wallace announces he will stand down as an MP at the next election.
 

At least he will serve on until then as hopefully the Defence Minister, he is one of those rare ministers in that post that appear to be doing a damned good job.

Mods, this hopefully isn’t counted as political, because as the Defence Minister it affects all aspects of the Military.

Initial reaction? Bugger!

I wonder why….

To paraphrase dreadful social meejah…”DOES ANYBODY KNOW……..?”

Apparently he's said he will resign at the next re-shuffle.

A shame. A man who has managed to secure some (if not enough) uplift in the budget and seemed largely on top of his brief. Didn't seem to want to be PM, had set his heart on SG of NATO and when that was "blocked" had the balls to step away on his own terms. That said - Command Paper due out next week, might have some indefensible nasties in it......

May be he wants to see a bit of gratitude?

As a non Tory, I'm disappointed. He appears to the layman as a decent man with a good grip on his job. Shame there aren't more like him.

Why?

His seat disappears due to constituency boundary changes and he has decided not to contest the adjacent seats against their current selected candidates.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-66045931

He has said he is willing to remain in post until the election, but, as he is standing down, will be replaced at the next reshuffle anyway.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-66213245

You can’t contest a general election without knowing who will be Defence minister if you win…

At least he has said if / when he is removed in the Autumn re shuffle he won't resign as a MP forcing another By Election.... A MP with integrity

Yesssssssssssssssssss
 

Another rat deserting a sinking ship.

This man is no rat, despite the state of the vessel. He is a man of integrity with a sound military background, who has done a great deal of good for both the British military and the Ukraine forces in their existential struggle against the dark forces of Putin. We have a great deal to thank him for. ( if you will excuse me ending a sentence with a preposition!).

Mog

Can't find the Dislike Key.

<br /><br />Possibly because the red mists descended. If BW is a rat, who are the good people? The old-fashioned dutiful, polite, decent, honest Brits?? We are, thankfully, surrounded by them, but their voice is drowned by unreasoned abuse. I don't recognise where I live, how I live, who my friends and acquaintances are from what I read, see and hear. My parallel universe is a much better place.

7 years on a short service commission then straight into politics. Military as a means to an end. I will get my coat.

So more time in the Military than most.

Your point?

He came across as an out-of-touch, self-important prick in his recent comments. Good riddance.

Did you read his statement as to what was meant by it? It wasn’t how it was perceived.

Pot, kettle, black.

"You can’t contest a general election without knowing who will be Defence minister if you win…"

Actually you can - people don't vote for a list of Ministers but for a list of policies. As you're never certain who will be elected there are often changes to the slate after you've made the trip to Buck House and been photographed on the front step in Downing Street. Then you sit down and decide who does what

Any way Defence is so low on voters list of priorities they couldn't care less who is running it

Were you looking in the mirror as you typed?

I see that sharing your in depth, carefully considered judgements hasn't swelled your 'likes' score on this occasion.

I'm not sure I get all the fan boying about him frankly.....his work to get munitions to Ukr has definitely been a positive, but what has he done for UK Mil.....binning T1 Typh, binned C130, more Army cuts coming, more salami slicing, reduction in amount of protector and AEW, cancellation of warrior upgrade, etc, etc....

I'm not a big fan but its hard to pin the cuts on him - they all come from the Treasury and #10. He has to decide where they'll fall but he has to cut something.

A more nuanced view would be that he's tried to spread the cuts widely rather than face the facts that certain tasks & capabilities should be scrapped