British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace has announced that he will leave office in September's Conservative cabinet reshuffle and will not run in the next parliamentary election, meaning that the 53-year-old Wallace may retire from politics. The British political system is different from the concept of separation of powers, the British cabinet ministers and the prime minister, usually are members of Parliament, and the British ** is responsible to the parliament, which is the British responsible cabinet system.
Wallace's resignation may have something to do with his remarks to reporters at the NATO summit, in which he said Ukraine needed to convince U.S. lawmakers and other politicians who were skeptical about military aid that "people want to see gratitude, whether we like it or not." He recalled visiting Kyiv last year and saying to Zelenskyy: "You know, we are not the e-commerce giant Amazon. "It means that you don't have what you want.
This passage is widely understood as Wallace asking Ukraine to be grateful and not always complain about the lack of Western aid, which has been criticized by Ukraine and those who support Ukraine, which has put Wallace under a lot of pressure today when aid to Ukraine has become politically correct. Moreover, now Europeans generally believe that Ukraine is sacrificing for them, that Ukrainians are fighting Russia with their lives, and that Europeans are fighting Russia with money and **, and there is really no need for Ukrainians to thank the Europeans.
The criticism of Wallace was most bluntly expressed in the words of Finnish Foreign Minister Elena Valtonen, who said in an interview with the Financial Times: "We in the West need to understand that this is clearly not charity, because Ukraine is fighting for us." "They are fighting for our freedom and for the security architecture of Europe. ”
Valtonin said that it is in the interests of the West that it still insists on supporting Ukraine. "I wouldn't say there was any fatigue, I hope never will. In fact, the Finnish foreign minister's words, although firm, said that I hope there will never be, indicating that there are indeed such doubtful voices.
But it is clear that Wallace's words are not to say that Ukrainians should be grateful to Europe or Britain, in fact, Britain's aid is both an international moral imperative and an inevitable choice for Britain to oppose those who seek to challenge the existing international order on the continent in modern times, and Wallace, as British defense secretary, is naturally aware of this.
His remarks are obviously suggesting how Ukrainians can better win the support of the Americans, and persuade the two parties in the United States to take aid to Ukraine as a normalized and long-term policy, which is out of the concern of friends, which is of course not wrong. After all, there are many forces in the United States that oppose aid to Ukraine in both parties, and these forces may not be so strong for the time being, but the opinions of the voters they represent cannot be ignored, and Ukraine always complains that the West, especially the United States, is not enough aid, which of course will also stimulate the rebellion of these voters.
Moreover, Americans' sense of threat to this war is certainly different from that of Finland, Eastern Europe and European countries, and with the current high degree of separation between the left and right of the United States, how to win the support of both the left and right is indeed a question that Ukraine and Wallace should be concerned about.
But in any case, this passage put Wallace in a situation of isolation and misunderstanding, and his resignation because of this is also a reflection of the tradition of British politics not to be self-conscious, not to go to extremes in everything, which is also the decency of British politicians, just like Johnson Truss could have tried again without resigning as prime minister if he couldn't hold on.
Wallace served as Secretary of State for Defence for four years, after three terms as Prime Minister, he is the de facto head of British military aid to Ukraine, and the British Ministry of Defense led by him has fully demonstrated professionalism in aiding Ukraine**, which makes Ukraine always need something the most** It can be said that if British politicians are ranked in terms of enthusiasm for aid to Ukraine, Wallace will definitely rank second after Johnson, but he may resign as defense secretary and no longer run for parliament because of inappropriate expressions of his remarks about Ukraine, which is indeed the price he paid and his decency. Of course, Britain's active assistance to Ukraine is not because of Wallace, or even because of Johnson, Truss Sunak, the three prime ministers, so that whether Wallace resigns or not, it will not affect the leadership of British aid to Ukraine.