Ben Wallace says he is out of the race for NATO’s top job

BEN WALLACE is the great survivor of the most tumultuous recent period in British politics. He has held ministerial office, uninterrupted, from the premierships of David Cameron to Rishi Sunak. He emerged from the Boris Johnson years with his dignity intact and adoring support from the Conservative Party. His relentless backing, as defence secretary, for Ukraine has earned plaudits abroad. He had also hoped, until recently, he might succeed Jens Stoltenberg as secretary-general of NATO. “It’s not going to happen,” he tells The Economist. America wants Mr Stoltenberg to stay, he says, visibly deflated. That would defer the decision to next year.