British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace has officially resigned. “It has been a privilege to serve this great nation,” Wallace tweeted. Sunak responded by thanking him for his work, noting his service in three government posts, including security minister.
The new Minister of Defense will be Grant Shepps, the former Minister of Energy and Carbon Neutrality. “It is a great honor to become Defense Secretary. I would like to pay tribute to the enormous contribution that Ben Wallace has made to UK defense and global security over the last four years.” wrote he’s on twitter.
Immediately after his appointment, Schepps said that the UK would continue to support Ukraine in the “fight against Putin’s barbaric invasion”.
Grant Shepps was born in Rickmansworth into a Jewish family. He studied economics and finance at Manchester Polytechnic, and after graduating he founded PrintHouse Corporation, which developed websites and provided marketing and design services.
The post of Defense Secretary will be Shepps’ fifth position in the British government. He served as Transport Secretary in Boris Johnson’s government from 2019-2022, led the Home Office for a week in Liz Truss’s government, and headed the Business Office when Rishi Sunak first took office as Prime Minister.
Last week, Grant Shepps visited Kyiv to discuss the restoration of energy infrastructure. London has announced a £192 million loan guarantee to enable a British company to supply Ukraine with uranium enrichment services, an important component of nuclear fuel.
“Putin is using energy as a weapon of war: today’s actions to support nuclear fuel supplies will help Ukraine end its dependence on Russian supplies and strengthen its energy security,” Schepps previously said.
Ben Wallace has headed the British War Department since 2019. It was under his leadership that decisions were made related to supporting Kyiv in response to a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. Ben Wallace announced his intention to leave the post last month. He also does not plan to run for parliament again in the next national elections. Wallace referred to the fact that he would like to try for himself “new opportunities”, writes Reuters.
