British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak lobbies for Ben Wallace as NATO Secretary General during US visit

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is using his visit to Washington this week to encourage Joe Biden to support Defense Secretary Ben Wallace’s candidacy for NATO Secretary General.

About this, as conveys “European truth“, informs The Telegraph.

The Prime Minister will spend two days in Washington and meet with the US President at the White House.

They will discuss cooperation in the field of economy, trade, science and technology, and the signing of billions of dollars of business investment agreements in the UK is expected. They will also discuss ways to regulate artificial intelligence.

Ben Wallace is popular in the US for his central role in building an international coalition in support of Ukraine.

He has also brought Britain’s defense spending to 2.25% of GDP and is pushing for it to reach 3% by the end of the decade.

Last month, Sunak spent some time on the sidelines of the recent G7 meeting in Hiroshima, lobbying for Wallace’s interests.

There is fear in London that the French and Germans will unite to keep a Briton out of the job, and there is talk that they will back the first female general secretary to thwart Wallace’s victory. The other favorite is Mette Frederiksen, the Danish prime minister, who is meeting with Biden on Monday.

But she leads a country that doesn’t even spend 2 percent of GDP on defense and has a military of less than 20,000 troops. “I’m not sure what signal it will send to other countries around the 2% target,” a British government source said.

Wallace admitted to German media last month that I would like to take the post of Secretary General of NATO.

He told the dpa news agency: “I’ve always said that it would be a good job. It’s a job that I like. But I also like the job that I’m doing now.”

As you know, the current NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, who has been in this position since October 1, 2014, was supposed to resign last year and planned to head the central bank in his native Norway, but due to Russia’s attack on Ukraine, it was decided to extend his term of office until September 30, 2023.