UK defence minister to quit at next reshuffle

London: UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said on Sunday that he will step down from the Cabinet at the next reshuffle, expected in a few months’ time, after serving four years in the job.

The 53-year-old Conservative Party member of Parliament since 2005 also told The Sunday Times’ that he will not stand as an MP at the next general election, expected next year. Wallace has served as defence minister under three British prime ministers Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak and has played a high-profile role in the UK’s response to the Russia-Ukraine war conflict. “I went into politics in the Scottish parliament in 1999. That’s 24 years. I’ve spent well over seven years with three phones by my bed,” Wallace told the newspaper.