Table of Biography
Ben Wallace is a British politician and as well a former soldier who has held the position of Secretary of State for Defense since 2019. Ben Wallace has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Wyre and Preston North, formerly known as Lancaster and Wyre since 2005.
Early Life and Childhood
Ben Wallace was born Robert Ben Lobban Wallace on May 15, 1970, in his birthplace, Farnborough, Kent, England. His age is currently 52 years old. His father served in Malaya as a soldier in the First King’s Dragoon Guards. But the exact details of his parents and siblings are not available at the moment. He holds British nationality and was born under the sun sign Taurus. Other than this, there is no information about his early life and childhood.
Education
As for his academic qualification, he is a graduate student. Wallace received his education at Somerset’s Millfield, a private school. He participated in a young officers’ course while still in school, was questioned by the Regular Commissions Board after graduation.
Career and Professional Life
Ben Wallace is a successful British politician. He has served his nation with all the good welfare for the country and the people living there.
Caption: Ben Wallace giving reward to soldier
Source: Instagram
Military Career
Wallace received a short service commission and was commissioned as a second lieutenant into the Scots Guards in June 1991 after completing his cadet training at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. He served in Germany, Cyprus, Belize, and Northern Ireland between 1991 and 1998.
He was made a lieutenant in April 1993, and he was also cited in dispatches that year, both for an incident in Northern Ireland in which the patrol he was leading successfully captured an entire IRA active duty unit that was attempting to launch a bomb attack against British soldiers. Ben received a captaincy promotion in 1996.
Wallace was a part of the group going to Paris to bring back Diana, Princess of Wales’ body, and was on duty the night she passed away. Wallace’s active duty ended and his call-up responsibility period started when he transferred as a captain from the Active List to the Regular Army Reserve of Officers in June 1998.
The aspect of his profession that he had really enjoyed was commanding men, and this was likely to be little beyond that point, he later stated. As a result, he had chosen not to pursue becoming a regular officer and to continue after the age of thirty.
Wallace is a soldier of Scotland’s ceremonial bodyguard for the Sovereign, the Royal Company of Archers. As a result, on September 15, 2022, he alternated keeping watch over Queen Elizabeth’s grave in Westminster Hall.
Political Career
Scottish Parliament
After leaving the military, Wallace entered politics. He used his experience leading soldiers from some of the most economically depressed regions of the UK as justification for his choice, which he claimed could be solved by encouraging a more ambitious culture.
In 1999, Wallace was elected to the Scottish Parliament as a listed MSP for North East Scotland. He stepped aside in 2003 to pursue selection for an English Westminster constituency. Wallace served at the time as the Scottish Conservatives’ shadow health spokesman. He served as worldwide director of the aerospace firm QinetiQ, formerly the UK’s Defense Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA), from 2003 to 2005.
Member of the UK Parliament
In the general election of 2005, Wallace was selected to represent the Lancaster and Wyre constituency in parliament. With a majority of 4,171 (8.0%) and 22,266 votes, he defeated Labour to win the seat.
In the 2010 general election, the constituency was eliminated, and Wallace won with 26,877 votes and a majority of 15,844 (30.9%) for the new seat of Wyre and Preston North. He was re-elected in the general elections of 2015, 2017, and 2019, and the majority of those votes indicated that he now held a secure seat for his party.
Wallace served on the House of Commons Scottish Affairs Select Committee from 2005 to 2010. He served as the Shadow Minister of State for Scotland from 2006 to 2010, and from 2006 to 2014, he served as the head of the British-Iran Parliamentary Group. Wallace won the Campaigner of the Year award at the Spectator/Threadneedle Parliamentarian Awards on November 13, 2008, in recognition of his efforts to increase the transparency of MPs’ expenses.
Wallace came under fire from his constituents when it was discovered that he had filed the fourth-highest expenses claim of any MP in 2008, adding £175,523 to his £63,000 income. He refuted this, however, by stating that the electorate in his constituency was approximately 20% larger than the English average.
Secretary of State for Defence
Wallace was named Secretary of State for Defense on July 24, 2019, by newly elected Prime Minister Boris Johnson to replace Penny Mordaunt, who was not included in the new government. Wallace was considered a potential candidate to succeed David Cameron as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the July 2022 government crisis, however, he disqualified himself from the race on July 10. He claimed in a tweet that he was concentrating on his current position and “keeping this great country safe.”
Later, he supported Liz Truss in the race. Wallace was reappointed to his position on September 6 when Truss was named prime minister. When Rishi Sunak was appointed prime minister on October 25, he kept his position. Wallace made the quick decision to cancel the competition to build a new national flagship ship on November 7.
Ben Wallace – Net Worth 2023
Ben Wallace is one of the wealthiest and most powerful politicians in the UK. He has a net worth of $5 million as of 2023. His prime source of income is from his career as a politician and ex-army officer. Likewise, his annual salary is over $1 million.
Personal Life
His sexual orientation is straight. As for his relationship status, he is a divorced man. Wallace tied the knot with Liza Cooke in 2001. As for now, they are the parents of two sons and a daughter.
His wife served as a part-time parliamentary assistant in his office until 30 April 2019. Moreover, Wallace was an MSP at the time they first met, and she was a researcher for the Scottish Parliament. His wife and he are no longer together.
Controversies
Ben Wallace, an MP since 2005, has previously taken positions on issues that have drawn criticism, including comments about torture that have come to light.
Ben Wallace made remarks in 2003 that seemed to support the practice of mock executions, in which a soldier is kidnapped as a prisoner and may be “manhandled fairly roughly” as “absolutely the norm.”
“I would defend the right of soldiers to question quickly and sharply at the point of capture because that’s when you get the most information,” he said. “That is not a crime of war. Where our forces are still under threat, you must learn information soldier. Would that man have revealed his hidden weapons if he had been given a cup of tea?
Social Media
Ben Wallace is quite popular on various social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. All three accounts of him are verified with a blue tick mark. His Facebook account ‘Ben Wallace’ has gained more than 5.8K followers. Likewise, his Instagram account ‘@benwallacemp’ has more than 3.9K followers as of April 2023. He joined Twitter on May 2010 and now has more than 93.5K followers on his ‘BWallaceMP’ account.
Ben Wallace – Body Measurements
Coming to his physical appearance, Ben Wallace has a very attractive and fit body personality. However, he hasn’t shared his body stats like height, weight, dress size, shoe size, and so on. But looking at his pictures we can assume that he has a pair of brown eyes with brown hair color.
Caption: Ben Wallace posing for a photo
Source: The Mirror