Ben Wallace says a ‘poisonous’ dependancy to politics wrecked his marriage
- Mr Wallace opened up about his non-public life on the Crisis What Crisis podcast
Former defence secretary Ben Wallace has spoken of a ‘poisonous’ dependancy to politics, which he stated can destroy marriages and households.
The Tory MP opened up concerning the ‘private toll’ of the job and the way he struggled to change off – each as a result of he cherished the work and due to ‘the issue in entrance of us’.
Mr Wallace, 53, who’s standing down on the subsequent election, informed of the pressure of regularly having to be prepared for a disaster and sleeping with three telephones by his mattress.
The Wyre and Preston North MP is now separated from Liza Cooke — they married in 2001 — and informed former Downing Street communications director Andy Coulson’s Crisis What Crisis podcast he had change into hooked on his job. He described the Westminster bubble as ‘an dependancy however it’s additionally poisonous’, including: ‘It can destroy marriages, lives, households. And I watch younger MPs and researchers and civil servants come into it and I see that dependancy develop.’
Reflecting on his time in workplace, he stated: ‘I did not actually deal with switching off and that is the non-public toll. I could not swap off for plenty of causes. One is the issue in entrance of us, however secondly I cherished it. There was an dependancy.’ Mr Wallace served as Secretary of State for Defence from July 2019 to August final 12 months. Before that, he was a safety minister on the Home Office from July 2016.
Ben Wallace married his spouse Liz Cooke in 2001. The couple have since separated. He stated he wished his spouse, two sons and daughter had moved to be with him in London as an alternative of staying in Lancashire
Mr Wallace, who was defence secretary from 2019 to 2023, informed Andy Coulson’s Crisis What Crisis podcast he had change into hooked on his job. He described the Westminster bubble as ‘an dependancy however it’s additionally poisonous’, including: ‘It can destroy marriages, lives, households. And I watch younger MPs and researchers and civil servants come into it and I see that dependancy develop’
Mr Wallace has been the MP for Wyre and Preston North since 2005. He stated that when he stands down as an MP on the subsequent election he would ‘attempt to repair a few of my issues in my non-public, private life’ – in addition to drop some weight
He stated he wished his spouse, two sons and daughter had moved to be with him in London as an alternative of staying in Lancashire. His job meant he needed to continually be on alert to authorise operations, difficulty warrants or take calls from worldwide counterparts.
He stated that when he stands down as an MP on the subsequent election he would ‘attempt to repair a few of my issues in my non-public, private life’ – in addition to drop some weight. Mr Wallace added: ‘If we might lived in London I might have come residence within the night at the very least and spent the night time in my very own mattress and seen my youngsters and possibly been higher at it.’
He additionally recalled he thought-about working in Tory management contests, however determined to not as a result of ‘I did not need the price that got here with it’.
