Johnson criticised over Defence choice
BORIS JOHNSON’S judgment has been questioned over his appointment as Defence Secretary of Ben Wallace, who boasted to constituents that he had visited Iran more than any other MP and who helped block attempts last year to ban the Hezbollah terror group in its entirety. Labour Friends of Israel criticised Mr Johnson as someone who “likes to present himself as a friend of Israel but has appointed a Defence Secretary who appears anything but”, adding that Mr Wallace’s behaviour was “utterly shocking”.
Mr Wallace, the MP for Wyre and Preston North, wrote to constituents in 2015 describing how he had visited Iran with Jeremy Corbyn the previous year, calling him “an honest left-winger who genuinely likes people”.
With the Labour leadership contest then taking place, he praised Mr Corbyn over his rivals, stating: “The other
candidates should look and learn.”
In December of that year, in a statement to constituents, he described how “I am often accused by some of being too pro-Iran, as it is my view that any solution to Syria and Afghanistan needs to include Iran.
“As an MP I have visited Iran more than any other parliamentarian and the last time I went I did so with Jeremy Corbyn. Only now the UK and US seem to be following my position on Iran and I welcome that.”
One MP told the JC that Mr Wallace’s comments were “embarrassing” and “raised questions about his judgment”.
A Jewish community source said: “Boris and Ben do not appear to be singing from the same hymn sheet.”
And LFI described how “Ben Wallace’s praise of Jeremy Corbyn, parroting of pro-Iran lines and his apparent opposition to fully proscribing Hezbollah are utterly shocking and raise further questions about the Prime Minister’s judgment.”
Mr Wallace’s attitude towards Mr Corbyn appears to have undergone a marked shift once he was appointed a Security Minister by the former PM, Theresa May, with one communal source suggesting to the JC that the MP appeared to have undergone a “chameleon like” transformation in his opinion of the Labour leader.
In February 2018, in an interview with Andrew Neil on the BBC’s Daily Politics show, Mr Wallace went so far as to compare the Labour leader to Kim Philby, the Cold War double agent.
He led the political attacks on Mr Corbyn’s refusal to blame Russia over the Salisbury poisoning, suggesting that Labour’s response to the nerve agent incident was “effectively an insult to our police and intelligence services”.
“One can only hope Ben Wallace has changed his mind permanently over his opinion of Mr Corbyn,” said another communal source.
Mr Wallace, who played a central role in Mr Johnson’s abortive bid for the Conservative leadership in 2016, has been handed one of the biggest challenges in the early days of his premiership — helping to bring about the release of the British-flagged ship seized by Iran.
In his new role, he will be responsible for overseeing departmental affairs including nuclear operations and strategic international partnerships with the US, France, Germany, Saudi Arabia and Nato.
Elsewhere, Mr Wallace was seen as a block on banning Hezbollah in full, a pressing demand of the Jewish community that was finally enacted in February.
In a March 2018 Commons debate on the subject, Mr Wallace, then a Home Office Minister, rejected calls from across the House to extend the UK’s ban on the terror group’s military wing to its so-called political wing.
Mr Wallace claimed the British government’s “current position maintains a balance”.
He wrote to constituents saying: “I did not support Labour’s war in Iraq and I continue to oppose Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine.”
In an attempt to suggest Israeli anger at the actions of Iran was phoney, he wrote in September 2013: “Ready for another shock. Iran’s closest ally during Iran Iraq war was Israel. They supplied arms to Tehran.”
In 2014, the Wall Street Journal said Mr Wallace’s views on Iran “strikingly echo regime talking points”.
When asked by the newspaper if Iran should formally apologise for the 2011 attack on the British Embassy in Tehran by proregime students, Mr Wallace replied that “they’ve expressed regret” and cited the Westernbacked 1953 coup against Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh as a legitimate grievance — a common argument made by the Iranian regime.
He added that Iran could “use its power for stability and peace” and thus “earn a place at the table”. When asked if the regime had earned such a place to date, he responded: “Well, has America, after the invasion of Iraq, earned the right to play a role in the Middle East — or Britain?” Mr Wallace has also dismissed concern over Iranian calls for the elimination of Israel. In an interview with the BBC, he said this was simply “rhetoric. Israel and Iran have a huge history of rhetoric as opposed to the reality that they do behind the scenes.
“In the whole 1980s at the height of last Supreme Leader’s rhetoric against ‘Zionist Israel’ as he would call it, against the state that shouldn’t be, Iran and Israel were allies. It was Israel that was arming Iran throughout the Iraq war, not the West. We have to separate rhetoric from the reality.”
Earlier in 2013 he wrote: “Irony is Iran as signatory of NPT (Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons treaty) has right to enrich and pursue nuke power. Israel is not, yet refuses inspection of own sites.”
Mr Wallace has repeatedly defended Tehran and has criticised the policy of the West towards the regime. He shared his thoughts on the region in regular tweets and in a series of television interviews and chaired the All-Parliamentary Group on Iran from 2005 to 2014.
In January 2014, Mr Wallace was part of a four-man delegation who travelled to Tehran to meet President Hassan Rouhani.
The APPG was led by former Labour foreign secretary Jack Straw but also included Mr Corbyn, then a backbencher, as well as the former chancellor, Lord Lamont.
In March 2014, as discussions about Iran’s nuclear project continued, he wrote: “What a coincidence. On the day EU meets Iran president, a plethora of Iran conspiracy theories...I wonder who might be puffing these stories?”
He had earlier written: “Those who think Iran’s desire to enrich is about an A bomb fail to understand Iran.”
Again defending the Tehran regime, in an August 2014 tweet Mr Wallace wrote: “On our May visit to IAEA, officials made it clear that Iran had ‘stuck to the letter’ of its Geneva commitments. West must not move goal post.”
Speaking after his appointment to the Cabinet, Mr Wallace said: “As a former officer with the Scots Guards, it is an honour to take up this role at the Ministry of Defence. I know first-hand the dedication and hard work of our armed forces and I will be committed to ensuring their interests come first.”
Boris and Ben do not appear to be singing from the same hymn sheet’ Iran and Israel were allies. Separate rhetoric from the reality’