Ben Wallace, the defence secretary, on Friday endorsed British Foreign Minister Liz Truss in her bid to become the next prime minister of the nation.
Wallace, who surged in popularity because to his handling of the Ukraine crisis, had been viewed as the early frontrunner to replace Boris Johnson as prime minister before he ruled himself out in preference of focused on his defence post.
According to surveys conducted by members of the ruling Conservative Party, Truss is expected to defeat former finance minister Rishi Sunak. He claimed Truss was ‘authentic’ and ‘straight.’
‘She and I have sat together at international summits, bilateral discussions, and cabinet sessions. She maintains her position. She is honest and sincere above all else,’ he contributed to the Times.
After Johnson was forced to resign as prime minister due to a slew of scandals, the victor of the contest will become the fourth prime minister in the 12 years of Conservative administration.
The decision will be made public on September 5 and is up to the 200,000 or so Conservative Party members as of last year. She had a 24-point lead over Sunak in a YouGov poll conducted last week.
The NATO target of 2% of GDP has been referred to as a ‘floor, not a ceiling’ by Sunak, who has not specified how much he would spend on defence. Truss has promised to increase defence spending to 3% of GDP by 2030.
Wallace also made fun of Sunak for resigning as Johnson’s chancellor of the exchequer in the first few days of July, which led to a string of additional resignations and Johnson’s announcement that he would step down.
Wallace said in an interview with The Sun newspaper, ‘I don’t have the luxury of just walking out the door as defence secretary – I have roles in keeping this country safe.’
‘And the chancellor is the guardian of the markets, you know, the defender of our economy.’
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