US President Joe Biden blocked Ben Wallace’s bid to lead NATO in part because he served as a British soldier in Northern Ireland, it has been claimed. Close allies of the Defence Secretary suggested that his tours were among the reasons why the President of Irish descent did not support Mr Wallace.
One ally said: “Biden wears his southern Irish roots on his sleeve and he will be well aware Ben served in the British Army during the Troubles.
“He’s hardly particularly pro-British either, so we suspect it was one of the reasons why the President failed to throw his weight behind his candidature.”
The Tory minister had been pushing hard to replace Jens Stoltenberg as NATO head, who is due to step down from the role in autumn.
Mr Wallace decided to terminate his run for the leadership of the defence alliance last month.
The former soldier, who helped foil a bomb plot by the IRA in 1992, is now considering whether or not to even stand at the next election.
Up until this point, Mr Wallace’s inability to secure the position had been attributed to EU members of NATO insisting that only a candidate from an EU state could head the alliance.
It has been reported in Tory circles that this was the US president’s chief reason for not supporting Mr Wallace.
However, supporters of the Wyre and Preston North MP last night claimed that Mr Biden’s pro-Irish stance may have had something to do with it.
When visiting the island of Ireland in April, the Democrat was accused of insulting Britain by failing to fly the Union Flag on the ‘Beast’ presidential vehicle in Northern Ireland but then flying the Republic of Ireland’s flag when in the south.
A White House spokesman said in response to the allegations that Mr Biden blanked Mr Wallace’s bid for the leadership due to his military service in Northern Ireland that that was “100 per cent false and not accurate”.
Mr Wallace served in two separate tours in Northern Ireland with the Scots Guards.
He was credited with convincing Mr Johnson to back Ukraine strongly in the face of Russian aggression, and as such many believe that Mr Wallace was the strongest candidate for the role.
