Grant Shapps

Grant Shapps
Shapps wearing a suit
Official portrait, 2022
Secretary of State for Defence
Assumed office
31 August 2023
Prime MinisterRishi Sunak
Preceded byBen Wallace
Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero
In office
7 February 2023 – 31 August 2023
Prime MinisterRishi Sunak
Preceded byOffice established
Succeeded byClaire Coutinho
Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
In office
25 October 2022 – 7 February 2023
Prime MinisterRishi Sunak
Preceded byJacob Rees-Mogg
Succeeded byKemi Badenoch[a]
Home Secretary
In office
19 October 2022 – 25 October 2022
Prime MinisterLiz Truss
Preceded bySuella Braverman
Succeeded bySuella Braverman
Secretary of State for Transport
In office
24 July 2019 – 6 September 2022
Prime MinisterBoris Johnson
Preceded byChris Grayling
Succeeded byAnne-Marie Trevelyan
Minister of State for International Development
In office
11 May 2015 – 28 November 2015
Prime MinisterDavid Cameron
Preceded byDesmond Swayne
Succeeded byNick Hurd
Chairman of the Conservative Party
In office
4 September 2012 – 11 May 2015
LeaderDavid Cameron
Preceded byThe Baroness Warsi
Succeeded byThe Lord Feldman of Elstree
Minister without portfolio
In office
4 September 2012 – 11 May 2015
Prime MinisterDavid Cameron
Preceded byThe Baroness Warsi
Succeeded byRobert Halfon
Minister of State for Housing and Local Government
In office
13 May 2010 – 4 September 2012
Prime MinisterDavid Cameron
Preceded byJohn Healey
Rosie Winterton
Succeeded byMark Prisk
Shadow Minister for Housing and Planning
In office
20 December 2007 – 6 May 2010
LeaderDavid Cameron
Preceded byMichael Gove
Succeeded byJohn Healey
Member of Parliament
for Welwyn Hatfield
Assumed office
5 May 2005
Preceded byMelanie Johnson
Majority10,955 (21.0%)
Personal details
Born (1968-09-14) 14 September 1968 (age 55)
Croxley Green, Hertfordshire, England
Political partyConservative
Spouse
Belinda Goldstone
(m. 1997)
Children3
Alma materManchester Polytechnic (HND)
Signature

Grant Shapps (born 14 September 1968) is a British politician serving as Secretary of State for Defence since August 2023. Shapps has previously served in various cabinet posts, including Conservative Party Co-Chairman, Transport Secretary, Home Secretary, Business Secretary, and Energy Secretary under Prime Ministers David Cameron, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak. A member of the Conservative Party, he has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Welwyn Hatfield since 2005.

Shapps was first promoted to the Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Minister for Housing and Planning in 2007. Following David Cameron's appointment as Prime Minister in 2010, Shapps was appointed Minister of State for Housing and Local Government. In the 2012 cabinet reshuffle he was promoted to the Cabinet as Co-Chairman of the Conservative Party and Minister without Portfolio. In May 2015, he was demoted from the Cabinet, becoming Minister of State for International Development. In November 2015, he stood down from this post due to his handling of allegations of bullying within the Conservative Party.

In 2019 Shapps supported Boris Johnson's successful 2019 Conservative leadership bid. Upon becoming Prime Minister, Johnson appointed Shapps Transport Secretary. Since Shapps assumed the role it has exercised greater influence than under his predecessors, with the effective nationalisation of the Northern Trains franchise, the Williams–Shapps Review to move from a rail franchise system to concessionary Great British Railways public body (from 2023), and the Integrated Rail Plan published in 2021 which sets out the long-term strategy for rail in northern England and the Midlands.

In September 2022, Johnson's successor, Liz Truss, dismissed Shapps as Transport Secretary and he returned to the backbenches. In October 2022, amid a government crisis, Truss appointed Shapps as Home Secretary, replacing Suella Braverman.[1][2] His six-day tenure made Shapps the shortest-serving Home Secretary in British political history. After Braverman was reappointed as Home Secretary when Rishi Sunak became Prime Minister, Shapps was appointed Secretary of State for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy, succeeding Jacob Rees-Mogg.[3] He was then appointed Energy Secretary in February 2023, and later Defence Secretary in August 2023.


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  1. ^ Brown, Faye (19 October 2022). "Grant Shapps replaces Suella Braverman as home secretary". Sky News. Retrieved 19 October 2022.
  2. ^ "Grant Shapps to replace Suella Braverman as UK interior minister – BBC". Reuters. 19 October 2022. Retrieved 19 October 2022.
  3. ^ "UK Prime Minister on Twitter: The Rt Hon Grant Shapps MP". Twitter. Retrieved 25 October 2022.

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