Ben Wallace in ‘parting shot at Suella Braverman’ as he announces he’ll quit as defence secretary

Ben Wallace is thought to be rowing with home secretary Suella Braverman as he prepares to quit frontline politics – resigning his post as defence secretary at the next cabinet reshuffle.

The senior Tory also revealed that he will not seek re-election as an MP at the next election, but ruled out leaving “prematurely” and triggering another by-election for the Tories.

“I went into politics in the Scottish Parliament in 1999. That’s 24 years. I’ve spent well over seven years with three phones by my bed,” he told the Sunday Times on his desire to leave Westminster.

Mr Wallace is not going quietly, however, having become involved in a turf war with Ms Braverman about British soldiers being asked to cover for any gaps in Border Force staff this summer.

The defence secretary has refused Ms Braverman’s request for 750 troops to fill in for any immigration officials who strike or are absent, according to the Mail on Sunday – claiming that the Home Office should have made contingency plans.

A source told the newspaper: “The home secretary must not be allowed to always rely on our hard-working Armed Forces to be there to mop up for Home Office incompetence. If she was so worried, she should have planned ahead.”

Ms Braverman is said to have demanded 750 Armed Forces personnel to cover immigration posts in the event of wider strikes at airports and ports, warning of major travel disruption.

But Mr Wallace reportedly only wants to spare 250 troops to avoid cancelling leave. A Home Office source told the newspaper that Mr Wallace “has halved the number of troops he’s willing to offer to help backfill jobs compared with the last round of strikes at Christmas”.

They added: “Now an impending summer of chaos seems to be of little concern – but it is for the millions of people trying to use our airports. It’s all so petty.”

Mr Wallace his departure was due to the strain the job had put his family life under – insisting it was nothing to do with last week’s row over his comments on Ukraine, saying the West was not Amazon when it came to weapon demands and wanted to see more “gratitude”.

The popular cabinet minister – who will leave his role during a reshuffle expected in September – suggested he will continue to call on the government to commit to higher defence spending.

Rishi Sunak shut down comments saying the Ukrainian president has “expressed his gratitude for what we’ve done on a number of occasions”.

The defence secretary tweeted on Saturday that his comments had been “somewhat misrepresented”, saying he meant that Ukraine “needs to realise that in many countries and in some parliaments there is not such strong support as in Great Britain”.

Mr Wallace is believed to have told Mr Sunak on 16 June of his plans to stand down.

He had expressed an interest in standing for the position of Nato secretary-general before it was announced the current chief, Jens Stoltenberg, had been given another year in charge. But he later said “it’s not going to happen”.

Speaking to the Sunday Times, Mr Wallace went on to talk of his fears of future wars: “Towards the end of the decade … I think we will find ourselves in a conflict. Whether it is a cold or a warm conflict, I think we’ll be in a difficult position.”

Citing the China situation and “a total breakdown of politics in the Pacific”, he added: “You could find yourself by 2030 in a position of cold war.”

Regularly topping the Tory members’ poll of most popular cabinet ministers, Mr Wallace is the longest continuously serving minister in government, having been security minister under Theresa May before being promoted to defence secretary by Mr Johnson.

He was previously appointed as a whip in 2014 and a junior minister in the Northern Ireland Office in 2015 while David Cameron was prime minister.

Xural.com