British Defense Minister Ben Wallace has resigned. Official sources report it.
The farewell to office had already been announced in recent weeks and should coincide
with a reshuffle of the Tory government.
Wallace sent a letter to the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, who chose 54-year-old Grant Shapps as his successor.
Shapps previously held Energy and is a veteran of Tory governments, having already held numerous ministerial roles over the last decade under David Cameron, Boris Johnson or Liz Truss (when he was briefly promoted to lead the Interior); and having been out alone with Theresa May. The choice comes as a surprise compared to the forecasts of the newspapers, which favored the "hawk" Tom Tugendhat, current Deputy Minister of the Interior, and - like Wallace - a former career soldier.
(Unioneonline/ss)
