Five reasons ‘prime minister’ Ben Wallace is a terrifying concept for LGBTQ+ people
Ben Wallace has voted against same-sex marriage and the Equality Act. (Getty)
With Liz Truss’ premiership looking increasingly fragile, Ben Wallace is being eyed up as a potential replacement.
Truss has only been prime minister for a matter of weeks, but it’s looking like her stay in No 10 could be short lived.
She’s lurched from one crisis to the next ever since she won the leadership race, but her disastrous mini-budget has upset the markets and her party colleagues alike.
In fact, Tory MPs are now publicly and privately calling on Truss to resign – and speculation is already mounting about who could become the next Tory leader.
One of those who’s been tipped as a potential successor is defence secretary Ben Wallace. First elected an MP in 2005, Wallace is a Remainer who was part of Boris Johnson’s inner circle during his tenure as prime minister.
However, Wallace’s track record on LGBTQ+ rights has been spotty at best. We bring you five reasons why Wallace as prime minister would be a terrifying concept for queer people.
1. Ben Wallace voted against same-sex marriage
Secretary of State for Defence Ben Wallace arrives for the Cabinet meeting at 10 Downing Street on 16 October, 2019 in London, England. (Wiktor Szymanowicz / Barcroft Media via Getty Images)
If Ben Wallace’s voting record is anything to go by, he’s unlikely to emerge as an advocate for LGBTQ+ people.
He voted against introducing same-sex marriage in England and Wales in 2013.
The following year, he voted against extending marriage rights to members of the armed forces outside the UK.
Wallace was absent from the House of Commons when MPs voted on same-sex marriage in Northern Ireland in 2019.
2. He voted against the Equality Act
Ben Wallace, Defence Secretary, at the Conservative Party Conference. (P Scaasi/MI News/NurPhoto via Getty)
As if his opposition to same-sex marriage wasn’t enough, Wallace has also voted against the Equality Act.
He voted against an earlier iteration of the act in 2007 which prohibited discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.
Wallace’s efforts to defend his anti-LGBTQ+ record have largely fallen flat. In 2017, he tweeted: “Voting against gay marriage doesn’t make anyone homophobic.”
In 2013, he suggested on Twitter that people were voting for UKIP as a “gay marriage protest vote”.
3. Wallace claimed allowing gay people in the military would cause ‘sexual friction’
Ben Wallace arrives at Kastellet in Copenhagen, Denmark, on December 8, 2021. (MADS CLAUS RASMUSSEN/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP via Getty)
Writing in Scotland’s Press and Journal newspaper in 1999, Wallace spoke out against a European Court of Human Rights ruling which struck down the ban on gay people serving in the military.
Wallace claimed that “the military, such as the organisation operates, is weakened by introducing sexual friction between individuals”.
Speaking to the same newspaper in 2019, he walked back those comments.
“What I would probably say is that the world has moved on, and I think, you know, I’d just say I was wrong on that observation.”
He continued: “I think it was done, it had to be managed, the whole change from a deep rooted culture, and I think I probably was part of that culture.”
Wallace went on to describe his earlier stance as “a load of rubbish”.
4. He decided only female soldiers can wear make up
Ben Wallace attends the start of the North Atlantic Council meeting of defence ministers on October 13, 2022. (Omar Havana – Pool / Getty)
In 2019, Ben Wallace ditched a proposed policy that would have allowed anybody regardless of gender to wear make up in the army.
When he heard the army was considering revising its guidelines to make make-up policies gender-neutral, Wallace intervened.
Speaking at the Conservative Party conference that year, Wallance said: “Apparently the army is consulting on men being allowed to wear makeup.
“The answer is men will be allowed to wear makeup in the army as long as it’s camouflage colour. That will be about as far as they are allowed.”
5. He’s voted in favour of a stricter asylum system
Ben Wallace speaks to delegates before posing for the official press photo on the second and final day of the NATO defence ministers’ meeting. (Omar Havana – Pool/Getty)
Throughout his career, Wallace has voted in favour of stricter asylum policies, which could make it even harder for LGBTQ+ people fleeing violence and persecution to get to safety.
Many LGBTQ+ people are forced to flee their home countries due to anti-LGBTQ+ laws or societal attitudes, but they often have to contend with punitive asylum systems when they arrive in western Europe.
In 2021, he voted in favour of the second reading of the Nationality and Borders Bill, a law that was spearheaded by Priti Patel during her tenure as home secretary.
In 2015, he voted to restrict the supports available to asylum seekers and migrants deemed illegal by the state, according to TheyWorkForYou.com.
All in all, Wallace’s voting record – and some of his past comments – won’t reassure LGBTQ+ people that he’ll have their best interests at heart if he becomes the next prime minister.
