Boris Johnson’s new Defence Secretary praised Jeremy Corbyn as “an honest left winger who genuinely likes people” after accompanying him on a trip to Iran, the JC can reveal.

Ben Wallace – the former Security Minister who was last week rewarded for his staunch support of Mr Johnson’s leadership campaign with a place in his Cabinet – also admitted that, like the Labour leader, he is “often accused by some of being too pro-Iran”.

The former Scots Guard, who serves as the Wyre and Preston North MP, was alongside the PM on a visit to a Scottish naval base on Monday.

One MP told the JC that Mr Wallace’s comments were “embarrassing” and “raised questions about his judgement”.

A Jewish community source said: “Boris and Ben do not appear to be singing from the same hymn sheet.”

Mr Wallace’s remarks have resurfaced only days after the new Prime Minister delivered a stinging attack on Mr Corbyn in the House of Commons, saying he “repeatedly sides with the mullahs of Tehran rather than our friends in the United States over what is happening in the Persian Gulf”.

But Mr Wallace has issued statements which suggest he does not share this view of Mr Corbyn over Iran.

Writing on social media in August 2015, Mr Wallace said: "Corbyn and I visited Iran together last year.  He is an honest left winger who genuinely likes people.”

With the Labour leadership contest then taking place, he praised Mr Corbyn over his rivals, stating: "The other candidates should look and learn."

In a statement to his local constituents in December that same year, Mr Wallace again suggested he thought along similar lines as the Labour leader over Tehran.

"I am often accused by some of being too pro-Iran, as it is my view that any solution to Syria and Afghanistan needs to include Iran,” he wrote.

"As an MP I have visited Iran more than any other parliamentarian and the last time I went I did so with Jeremy Corbyn. Only now the UK and US seem to be following my position on Iran and I welcome that."

Mr Wallace, who played a central role in Mr Johnson’s abortive bid for the Conservative leadership in 2016, has been handed one of the biggest challenges in the early days of his premiership — helping to bring about the release of the British-flagged ship seized by Iran.

Elsewhere, Mr Wallace was seen as a block on banning Hezbollah in full, a pressing demand of the Jewish community that was finally enacted in February.

In a March 2018 Commons debate on the subject, Mr Wallace, then a Home Office Minister, rejected calls from across the House to extend the UK’s ban on the terror group’s military wing to its so-called political wing.

Mr Wallace claimed the British government’s “current position maintains a balance”.

He wrote to constituents saying: “I did not support Labour’s war in Iraq and I continue to oppose Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine.”

In an attempt to suggest Israeli anger at the actions of Iran was phoney, he wrote in September 2013: “Ready for another shock. Iran's closest ally during Iran Iraq war was Israel. They supplied arms to Tehran."

In 2014, the Wall Street Journal said Mr Wallace's and other's views on Iran "strikingly echo regime talking points".

When asked by the newspaper if Iran should formally apologise for the 2011 attack on the British Embassy in Tehran by pro-regime students, Mr Wallace replied that "they've expressed regret" and cited the Western-backed 1953 coup against Iranian Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh as a legitimate grievance - a common argument made by the Iranian regime.

He added that Iran could "use its power for stability and peace" and thus "earn a place at the table".

When asked if the regime had earned such a place at the table to date, he responded: "Well, has America, after the invasion of Iraq, earned the right to play a role in the Middle East — or Britain?"

The new defence secretary has also dismissed concern over Iranian calls for the elimination of Israel. In an interview with the BBC, Mr Wallace said this was simply “rhetoric".

He said: “Israel and Iran have a huge history of rhetoric as opposed to the reality that they do behind the scenes.

“In the whole 1980s at the height of last Supreme Leader’s rhetoric against ‘Zionist Israel’ as he would call it, against the state that shouldn’t be, Iran and Israel were allies. It was Israel that was arming Iran throughout the Iraq war, not the West.

“We have to separate rhetoric from the reality.”

Earlier in 2013 he wrote: “Irony is Iran as signatory of NPT (Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons treaty) has right to enrich and pursue nuke power. Israel is not yet refuses inspection of own sites.”

Mr Wallace has repeatedly defended Tehran and has criticised the policy of the West towards the regime.

He shared his thoughts on the region in regular tweets and in a series of television interviews and chaired the All-Parliamentary Group on Iran from 2005 to 2014.

In June 2014 he wrote on Twitter: “The irony of the west's position on Iran is that they have come together because other gulf states have exported terror!"

Mr Wallace also said: "There can be no peace in Syria without involving Iran."

He once tweeted: "The West must be very careful not to move the goal posts on Iran."

In January 2014, Mr Wallace was part of a four-man delegation who travelled to Tehran to meet President Hassan Rouhani.

The APPG which was led by former Labour foreign secretary Jack Straw, but also included Mr Corbyn, then a backbencher, as well as the former chancellor of the exchequer Lord Lamont.

In March 2014, as discussions about Iran’s nuclear project continued, he wrote: “What a coincidence on the day EU meets Iran president a plethora of Iran conspiracy theories... I wonder who might be puffing these stories?"

He had earlier written: “Those who think Iran’s desire to enrich is about an A bomb fail to understand Iran.”

Again defending the Tehran regime, in an August 2014 tweet Mr Wallace wrote: “On our May visit to IAEA officials made it clear that Iran had ‘stuck to the letter’ of its Geneva commitments. West must not move goal post.”

Speaking after his appointment to the Cabinet last week, Mr Wallace said: “As a former officer with the Scots Guards, it is an honour to take up this role at the Ministry of Defence.

“I know first-hand the dedication and hard work of our armed forces, and I will be committed to ensuring their interests come first.”

The JC approached Mr Wallace for comment but had received no reply as this article went live.