Ben Wallace (politician)

Military and business career

Aged 19, Wallace attended the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, before being commissioned as a platoon commander into the Scots Guards. During his eight-year army career he served in Germany, Windsor, Cyprus, Central America and Northern Ireland. In 1992 he was mentioned in despatches. His last post was as Company Commander of F Company Scots Guards.

From 2003 to 2005 he was overseas director of QinetiQ, the UK's part-privatised National Defence Laboratory.^[2]

Scottish Parliament

After leaving the Army, he became in 1999 a Conservative Member of the Scottish Parliament, as a list MSP for North East Scotland, before standing down in 2003. He was the Scottish Conservatives' shadow health spokesman during that time.

United Kingdom Parliament

Wallace won the Lancaster and Wyre Constituency from Labour in 2005. The election result saw a 481 vote (0.92%) Labour majority swing to a 4171 vote (8.00%) Conservative majority. The overall swing was 4.50% from Labour to Conservative. This constituency was number nine on the 2005 Conservative 'target list'. He subsequently became the Member of Parliament (MP) for Wyre and Preston North after winning the seat at the 2010 general election; he was re-elected in 2015 and 2017.

From 2005 to 2010 Wallace was a member of the Scottish Affairs Select Committee.^[3] From 2006 to 2010 Wallace was the Shadow Minister of State for Scotland. He was Chairman of the British–Iran Parliamentary Group from 2006 to 2014. On 13 November 2008, Wallace was elected Campaigner of the Year in the Spectator/Threadneedle Parliamentarian awards, for his work promoting transparency of MPs expenses. In February 2008, in conjunction with the Sunday Times, Wallace published all his expenses and receipts.

Following his re-election to Parliament, Wallace was appointed as Parliamentary Private Secretary to the then-Justice Secretary and Lord Chancellor, and later Minister without Portfolio in the Cabinet Office, Ken Clarke MP. On 4 September 2012, Wallace turned down a position as a Lord Commissioner of the Treasury during the cabinet reshuffle. to remain Clarke's PPS.^[4] In July 2014, as Clarke returned to the back benches, Wallace was again offered a job in Government as a whip. This time he accepted. In May 2015 he was promoted to Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Northern Ireland Office. After the EU referendum, the new Prime Minister, Theresa May, promoted him to Minister of State for Security in the Home Office. In December 2017 the Minister portfolio was extended to include Economic Crime.

Wallace was appointed to the Privy Council for his role in coordinating the government response to the 2017 Westminster attack.^[5]

Wallace supported the UK staying in the European Union prior to the 2016 referendum.^[6]

In Parliament, Wallace has previously served on the Administration Committee and Scottish Affairs Committee.^[7]

Controversy

Wallace faced criticism locally after it was revealed he had the fourth highest expenses claim of any MP in the UK in 2008, claiming £175,523 on top of his £63,000 salary. However, he defended the costs by arguing that the constituency has an electorate that is nearly 20% larger than the average one in England.^[8]

In January 2016, Wallace was one of 72 MPs who voted down an amendment in Parliament on rental homes being "fit for human habitation" who were themselves landlords who derived an income from a property.^[9]

In February 2018, Wallace was criticised by political opponents for promoting unfounded smears on the leader of the Labour Party. The right-leaning tabloid newspaper, The Sun, had alleged that during the 1980s Jeremy Corbyn had colluded with a Communist spy. In response to the allegations, a spokesman for Corbyn stated that any suggestion that the Labour leader had been an agent, asset or informer was "an entirely false and a ridiculous smear".^[10] Amidst these allegations, Wallace was criticised for tweeting: "'Jeremy has been interested in foreign policy issues his entire political career' [sic] - Labour MP Louise Haigh, BBC Daily Politics - yup so was Kim Philby". Wallace later defended his tweet, and said he "wasn't comparing, just saying that being interested in foreign policy isn't an answer to the allegations being made". After facing criticism, Wallace told Sky News: 'It was a light-hearted dig at Louise Haigh's excuse that Corbyn was interested in foreign affairs ... I was simply saying Kim Philby was also interested in foreign affairs'.^[11][12]