Wallace’s exit shows the Tories are running out of hope

The announcement by Ben Wallace that he will stand down as Defence Secretary at the next Cabinet reshuffle and then give up being an MP at the general election hardly counts as a sensational turn of events.

There are at least a dozen happenings at the top end of the Tory party from the past few months that put it in the shade where personnel matters are concerned. One thinks, for example, of the ongoing technicolour splurge of the quitting of Nadine Dorries, the ushering of Dominic Raab towards the exit door and of course the abandoning ship of the great blond bombshell himself before he could be made to walk the plank.

Beside all that the dignified and low-key statement given to the Sunday Times by Mr Wallace hardly rates as a breakfast ‘marmalade dropper’ and does not lend itself to breathless commentaries on TV news either.