Just before the start of the war in Ukraine, Ben Wallace and his Ukrainian counterpart Oleksii Reznikov had to speak in code. Before secure communications were established with Kyiv, the defence secretary referred to the weapons systems Britain was supplying to Ukraine as if he was shipping a consignment of drinks.
Wallace, who served as a captain in the Scots Guards and then as a member of the Scottish parliament before he arrived in Westminster, said: “I just picked whiskies. So the Nlaw [anti-tank missile] was Glenfiddich and Harpoon anti-ship missiles were Islay. I would text him saying ‘I’ve got some whisky for you’ or ‘the whisky is on its way’. We just picked codewords, minister to minister.”
On the eve of the conflict Wallace
