Ben Wallace rules himself out of race for No 10 and says he will back Boris Johnson

Ben Wallace, the defence secretary, has ruled himself out of the Tory leadership race and instead has thrown his support behind Boris Johnson.

Pointing to Mr Johnson’s record on defence spending and citing the mandate he achieved in 2019, the cabinet minister said it was important to think about “who could win the next election” for the Conservatives.

“I think you really have to want it as a prime minister, to do that job you have to really, really think it’s the job for you,” Mr Wallace said, adding that he’s more concerned about “keeping people safe”.

Sign up for our newsletters.