Ben Wallace says he is out of the race for NATO’s top job

BEN WALLACE is the great survivor of the most tumultuous recent period in British politics. He has held ministerial office, uninterrupted, from the premierships of David Cameron to Rishi Sunak. He emerged from the Boris Johnson years with his dignity intact and adoring support from the Conservative Party. His relentless backing, as defence secretary, for Ukraine has earned plaudits abroad. He had also hoped, until recently, he might succeed Jens Stoltenberg as secretary-general of NATO. “It’s not going to happen,” he tells The Economist. America wants Mr Stoltenberg to stay, he says, visibly deflated. That would defer the decision to next year.

No time for recrimination exists: a “defence command paper” is due within weeks, updating the previous one from March 2021. It will reflect many lessons from Ukraine. Mr Wallace, a former captain in the Scots Guards, identifies air defences, electronic warfare and “deep fires”, such as longer-range artillery, as crucial areas for investment. The previous review assumed Britain could expand its ground forces over the decade to 2030. The war has accelerated everything. Challenger tanks will be upgraded 12 months sooner than planned, and new Swedish howitzers, bought in March to replace older guns sent to Ukraine, will be ready next spring.