“I look half-cut in that picture,” Ben Wallace protested as he glanced at the photograph of himself above the podium at the ConservativeHome Defence & Security Conference.
Whether or not he looked tipsy in the picture, the Defence Secretary was entirely sober as he this morning took questions from Paul Goodman, editor of ConHome, with whom he is pictured here.
Wallace nevertheless likened himself, when asked about defence procurement, to a wine waiter who has to decide which bottles are ready for drinking now, which should be laid down for future drinking, and which have gone over and need to be replaced.
The RAF’s equipment is in a “drink now” state, the Navy’s should be laid down, but the Army’s equipment “had gone over 15 years ago” and is “desperately in need of replacement”.
After the end of the Cold War, “30 years of hollowing out” took place, and not just in Britain: look at the German Armed Forces.
Or look at the Russian Army, which had huge numbers of armoured vehicles which could not actually talk to each other so were “all blown up on the road to Kyiv”.
Wallace observed that the reputation of Russia’s “invincible army” has been “trashed”, and that nowadays a cheap drone “can suddenly turn your very expensive tank into a wood burner”.
Goodman wondered whether Wallace will get the money he needs in next week’s Budget.
“I’m pretty confident,” Wallace said, but observed that when the Budget happens, he will be in Japan, signing an agreement with the Japanese and the Italians to build the next generation of fighter aircraft.
He suggested “the real battle for defence” will come in the Comprehensive Spending Review in 2024-25, and “I’m not sure I’ll be here in two years”.
The Germans, French, Italians and Saudis all have ten-year defence budgets, and that is what Britain needs.
Mark Francois, a member of the Defence Select Committee, congratulated Wallace on having already become “the longest ever serving Conservative Defence Secretary”.
“Quite a low bar,” Wallace interjected, for he has only been in post since July 2019.
That makes him a veteran compared to Alex Chalk, the Minister of Defence Procurement, who has only been in post since October 2022, and like almost every member of the present Government has yet to become a household name.
Chalk, who took part in the panel discussion before Wallace came on, has been MP for Cheltenham since 2015, and related being told on the doorstep, “You might be better than your brother but we don’t want David Miliband here either.”
Tobias Ellwood, Chairman of the Defence Select Committee and also on the panel, said of Chalk, “My concern is how long he’s going to stay in the job.”
Ellwood warned that “we are entering a new Cold War”, pointed out that the Navy only has 18 frigates and destroyers compared to 48 in 1991, and said it is ridiculous that the excellent Brimstone missile cannot be fired from most of our ships and vehicles.
He remarked that the Ukrainians have “found a way of firing it out of the back of a four-ton truck”, and urged that “if they can do it so can we”.