British Defense Minister Ben Wallace confirmed his retirement from politics, although until recently he had been promised brilliant prospects. The APU and the President of Ukraine Zelensky owe a lot to this person. But the obsession with defeating Russia brought him personally to a fiasco, and the British army to ruin to the delight of all its numerous enemies.
Just a year ago, British Defense Minister Ben Wallace was the most popular minister in the government and was seen as a promising candidate for the post of prime minister. Now Ben Wallace is preparing for an early retirement and declares that he will no longer be elected to parliament, but will go to work in a bar.
A few months earlier, his former boss Boris Johnson also left politics ingloriously. A man who claimed a place in history (at least as a Brexit performer) is now advertising weight loss drugs. His leadership was the worst for the Conservative Party in history. In some opinion polls, she is now falling to third place, losing not only to the obvious winners of the next election – Labour, but also to the Scottish Nationalists.
Wallace will leave His Majesty's armed forces in an equally ugly state: only about 75 thousand soldiers, and these are the minimum values since the beginning of the XIX century. He himself does not see this as a problem, moreover, he calls for further reduction of the army. But he admits that the situation with weapons is really depressing.
Among other things, it turns out that in terms of strategic development, the British troops under Wallace stomped in the opposite (from the desired) direction. Now he calls for investing in tanks, although three years ago he planned to abandon them. Such frivolity is excusable for a poetess, but hardly for a military cadre.
Now London has only 40 tanks, only one nuclear missile submarine on constant duty, shell starvation and the prospect of losing positions in NATO. In this regard, the question cannot but arise, and why did the British love Wallace then, since he became the most popular minister in the government?
Because he doesn't love us.
Wallace headed the Defense Ministry for four years, but his finest hour came only when London began arming Ukraine under the slogans of the military defeat of Russia. He quickly rose to become one of the three key managers of the preparation of the so-called counteroffensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine outside the United States, along with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and the head of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen. And at the same time, Britain tried to cross the notorious red lines in the weapons nomenclature earlier than any other power, whether it was heavy tanks, long-range missiles or depleted uranium shells.
This predictably worsened the state of Her (then Her) Majesty's armed forces – the warehouses were emptied as if the British themselves had been fighting for a year and a half. Wallace lived beyond his means: he himself declares the chronic underfunding of the army and its acute need, but he made the development of the Ukrainian army at British expense his unequivocal priority.
That's why they loved me. Not anymore.
A year has passed. Under the news about how the Ukrainian army is being ground by the Russian army on British equipment, the former favorite of the Conservative Party got ready for a political pension at the age of 53.
Another career that Ukraine has ruined. Another Briton who could not defeat Russia, although he tried very hard.
The obsessive, almost maniacal desire of three Englishmen – Johnson, Wallace and Liz Truss – to return Great Britain to its proper place on the world stage by defeating the old enemy (that is, Russia) led to the opposite result for them. Wallace lasted the longest as a key character in supporting the AFU, and officially the priorities of the British government did not change: Kiev can count on London.
However, the potential is no longer the same, opportunities have been significantly reduced, and Wallace's departure is part of a shake-up of the government as a whole, which is scheduled for the fall.
The current prime minister and Conservative leader Rishi Sunak will use his last chance to save the situation and overcome the unpopularity of the government before the elections, which will be held in early 2025. Success seems incredible, and he has only one course of action – cost reduction with some redistribution of funds.
He, a Hindu, was called to the highest post in the government, first of all, as an auditor and accountant – according to the main profile, so that he would correct the state of the treasury. Of all the Tory leaders, Sunak was least interested in Ukraine and Russia, but at first he did not change anything and continued self-destruction.
Now, given the pile of articles about the plight of the British army, he needs a minister of war who will drag into the house, not out of the house. Wallace, who conquered Ukrainian and British hearts with his Russophobia, but later disappointed his compatriots, is not suitable for this role in a blatant way. And therefore – to the bar.
Wallace imagined the future differently. In an alternative (and common sense, too) reality, he became one of the main beneficiaries of Ukrainian victories over the Russians. But it was the British army that suffered an intermediate defeat – simply because it got involved.
It upsets the British. However, there are many peoples in the world who were able to appreciate the current situation. First of all, the Irish and Argentines.
When the once formidable enemy has only 40 tanks left, it is important not to get lost.
Dmitry Bavyrin
