Who’s Grant Shapps? The new defence secretary whose appointment has ruffled feathers

Grant Shapps has been appointed the brand new defence secretary following the anticipated resignation of Ben Wallace.

The alternative of substitute has ruffled some feathers given his lack of navy expertise, although he’s broadly seen as one of many higher communicators in authorities.

The Welwyn Hatfield MP, 54, isn’t any stranger to cupboard, having beforehand led the vitality safety and internet zero division and held the posts of transport secretary and residential secretary.

However, this veteran of government has a barely totally different background to a lot of his contemporaries on the prime of the Conservative Party.

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Unlike a lot of his Tory colleagues, he isn’t a product of a public faculty and a prime college. He was educated at Watford Grammar School and Manchester Polytechnic.

Halfway by way of his diploma whereas within the US he practically died in a automobile crash and was in a coma for nearly per week, earlier than he ultimately recovered.

Ten years later he was identified with Hodgkin lymphoma, present process each chemotherapy and radiotherapy, however was efficiently handled.

Born in Hertfordshire, Mr Shapps has two musical relations – a brother, Andre Shapps, who performed keyboard for the post-punk band Big Audio Dynamite, and a cousin, Mick Jones, who was a founding member of The Clash.

While his household leaned in direction of music, the married father-of-three had ambitions to grow to be a politician from a younger age, turning into nationwide president of the Jewish youth organisation BBYO as an adolescent.

In his early 20s, he arrange a advertising and printing enterprise earlier than contesting his first parliamentary seat in 1997.

He ultimately ousted Labour’s Melanie Johnson in 2005 to grow to be MP for Welwyn Hatfield, a seat he has held ever since.

Mr Shapps rose by way of the ranks rapidly, turning into vice social gathering chair the identical yr he was elected and later turning into social gathering co-chair. He has additionally served as housing minister and minister with out portfolio.

However his chequered profession has not been with out controversy.

Mr Shapps hit a bump within the street through the 2015 common election marketing campaign when he was accused of anonymously editing his own entry and people of different Conservative politicians on Wikipedia.

Then-prime minister David Cameron stood by him whereas Mr Shapps known as the allegations “bonkers”, and Wikipedia later discovered no definitive proof linking him to the account used to amend the entries.

But the harm was completed and Mr Shapps was eliminated as social gathering chairman and made a minister on the Department for International Development – a transfer broadly seen as a demotion.

Read extra: Ben Wallace: ‘It’s been a long slog… I’m happy to go’

He was pressured to resign from the submit after simply six months when it was alleged that he had been warned about bullying amongst younger social gathering activists nearly a yr earlier than 21-year-old Elliott Johnson took his personal life.

Mr Shapps denied being knowledgeable about any allegations of bullying, sexual abuse or blackmail, however give up his submit saying that “responsibility should rest somewhere”.

Just months earlier than the Wikipedia scandal, Mr Shapps was additionally accused of getting breached the codes of conduct for ministers and MPs when it was revealed he held a second job after coming into parliament.

He was uncovered as having continued working as a marketer of get-rich-quick schemes under the pseudonym Michael Green.

Mr Shapps was a Remainer within the EU referendum however has since described himself as a “Brexit moderate” who desires to make leaving the European Union work.

He returned to the backbenchers beneath the Theresa May administration, when he was concerned in a coup to oust her as prime minister.

After she ultimately resigned in 2019 he backed Boris Johnson within the management contest and was rewarded for his loyalty with a submit as transport secretary.

It was seen as a becoming position for Mr Shapps – a aircraft fanatic and certified pilot who as soon as flew to a BBC panel recording in his personal non-public jet.

Mr Shapps’ tenure within the transport division was broadly outlined by the response to the COVID pandemic and the following airport chaos as journey resumed.

He additionally confronted criticism for failing to interact with unions over industrial motion whereas starring in bizarre videos to promote the railways.

But Mr Shapps was seen as a dependable public performer and sometimes despatched out to defend the federal government on the airwaves through the many crises that engulfed the Johnson administration.

Mr Shapps was sacked from the cupboard by Liz Truss after backing Rishi Sunak within the management race – however made a rare comeback simply six weeks later when he was drafted into substitute Suella Braverman as house secretary.

The appointment raised eyebrows given Mr Shapps had been closely crucial of her tax plans, branding them politically “tin-eared”.

Seen as a sharp-elbowed plotter, he’s additionally mentioned to have recorded Tory colleagues’ doubts about Ms Truss in a operating spreadsheet.

As it occurred Mr Shapps was house secretary for lower than per week, with the Truss premiership collapsing in file time.

When Rishi Sunak took over, he was made enterprise and vitality secretary and when that division break up, he grew to become head of the vitality and internet zero division.

His new submit in defence comes towards a backdrop of struggle in Europe and together with his predecessor warning the world will become more insecure and unstable.

Unlike Mr Wallace, he has no navy expertise and will likely be seen as having large sneakers to fill.