The defence secretary, Ben Wallace, has said he does not expect to be the next head of Nato, amid claims that the US wants the current leader to stay.
In an interview with the Economist, the Conservative MP said “it’s not going to happen”, adding that he thinks the United States wants the current secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, to remain in post for another year.
Stoltenberg, a former prime minister of Norway, is due to step down in September after nine years as head of the military alliance, but its membership has struggled to decide on a replacement before a summit in Lithuania in July.
Last month Wallace declared his interest in the role, telling German news agency dpa: “I’ve always said it would be a good job. That’s a job I’d like. But I’m also loving the job I do now.”
Wallace had been tipped as a contender for the position owing to his role in supporting Ukraine after Russia’s invasion, with the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, talking up his defence secretary while falling short of offering formal backing.
The role is decided behind the scenes. Some EU leaders, including the French president, Emmanuel Macron, were reportedly reluctant to accept a non-EU candidate for the role.
The US is also thought to have had doubts about Wallace, with some in the military resenting the way he has forced the pace over Ukraine. In his interview with the Economist, Wallace speculated that the US wanted a more senior politician to succeed Stoltenberg. “Maybe they want a prime minister,” he said.
Wallace said that many countries in the alliance have no appetite for Nato’s target of spending 2% of GDP on defence.
He warned that whoever gets the top job will have to deal with “a lot of unresolved issues in Nato” and they will have to “please both Macron and Biden”, he said, in reference to the US’s focus on gaining allies to confront China and France’s emphasis on European autonomy.
