Ben Wallace admitted politics is an addiction but it’s also toxic and destroys marriages, lives, families

1 March 2024, 09:35 | Updated: 1 March 2024, 09:38

By Andy Coulson

One of the great failures of our political system is that we only get the benefit of a minister’s experience after he or she has resigned or, more likely, been fired. The Westminster exit interview is, therefore, something of real value.

I recently sat down with former Defence Secretary Ben Wallace, who will leave parliament before the election, for my podcast Crisis What Crisis?

It's a conversation that demonstrates that those who are heading for the Westminster departure lounge usually have something to say that’s worth listening to. Liberated from the constraints of office, Ben talked to me in a way that was fascinating, authentic and, on the subject of defence spending, important.

For Jeremy Hunt, as he spends his weekend pondering where his pen should land on the budget, it might also prove to be a cautionary warning.

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Ben was candid about his concerns over the promises that may – or may not – be made over the defence budget at a time of global security crisis.

He described previous cuts to the defence budget as “corporate raiding” and added: “Defence and security, they’re not like pigs you can fatten on a market day as we used to be fond of telling the Labour Party, you can’t do that.

“I’ll be concerned if in the manifestos of both parties, there is no mention of a commitment to increase defence spending, proper mention. Not like ‘yes, yes at some stage.’”

Ben won’t be alone in looking closely at that particular budget line. For the first time in a long time, vast sections of the media and a voting public, worried about a world lurching from crisis to crisis, will be paying more attention.

On the private impact of the Westminster bubble on politicians and their families, Ben was equally frank.

‘The bubble itself is an addiction but it’s also toxic. And it can destroy marriages, lives, families.”

How we find a way to allow our politicians to speak as frankly as Ben did whilst still in the job is a challenge those tasked with political communications should spend more time pondering.

Andy Coulson is former Downing Street Communications Director, host of the Crisis What Crisis? podcast and founder of strategic advisers Coulson Partners.

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