Grant Shapps | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Official portrait, 2022 | |
| Secretary of State for Defence | |
| In office 31 August 2023 – 5 July 2024 | |
| Prime Minister | Rishi Sunak |
| Preceded by | Ben Wallace |
| Succeeded by | John Healey |
| Secretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero | |
| In office 7 February 2023 – 31 August 2023 | |
| Prime Minister | Rishi Sunak |
| Preceded by | Office established |
| Succeeded by | Claire Coutinho |
| Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy | |
| In office 25 October 2022 – 7 February 2023 | |
| Prime Minister | Rishi Sunak |
| Preceded by | Jacob Rees-Mogg |
| Succeeded by | Kemi Badenoch[a] |
| Home Secretary | |
| In office 19 October 2022 – 25 October 2022 | |
| Prime Minister | Liz Truss |
| Preceded by | Suella Braverman |
| Succeeded by | Suella Braverman |
| Secretary of State for Transport | |
| In office 24 July 2019 – 6 September 2022 | |
| Prime Minister | Boris Johnson |
| Preceded by | Chris Grayling |
| Succeeded by | Anne-Marie Trevelyan |
| Minister of State for International Development | |
| In office 11 May 2015 – 28 November 2015 | |
| Prime Minister | David Cameron |
| Preceded by | Desmond Swayne |
| Succeeded by | Nick Hurd |
| Chairman of the Conservative Party | |
| In office 4 September 2012 – 11 May 2015 Serving with The Lord Feldman of Elstree | |
| Leader | David Cameron |
| Preceded by | The Baroness Warsi |
| Succeeded by | The Lord Feldman of Elstree |
| Minister without portfolio | |
| In office 4 September 2012 – 11 May 2015 | |
| Prime Minister | David Cameron |
| Preceded by | The Baroness Warsi |
| Succeeded by | Robert Halfon |
| Minister of State for Housingand Local Government | |
| In office 13 May 2010 – 4 September 2012 | |
| Prime Minister | David Cameron |
| Preceded by | John Healey Rosie Winterton |
| Succeeded by | Mark Prisk |
| Shadow Minister for Housing and Planning | |
| In office 20 December 2007 – 6 May 2010 | |
| Leader | David Cameron |
| Preceded by | Michael Gove |
| Succeeded by | John Healey |
| Member of Parliament forWelwyn Hatfield | |
| In office 5 May 2005 – 30 May 2024 | |
| Preceded by | Melanie Johnson |
| Succeeded by | Andrew Lewin |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1968-09-14)14 September 1968 (age 56) Croxley Green, Hertfordshire, England |
| Political party | Conservative |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 3 |
| Alma mater | Manchester Polytechnic (HND) |
| Signature |  |
Grant Shapps (born 14 September 1968) is a British politician who served asSecretary of State for Defence from August 2023 to July 2024. Shapps previously served in variouscabinet posts, includingConservative Party Co-Chairman,Transport Secretary,Home Secretary,Business Secretary, andEnergy Secretary under Prime MinistersDavid Cameron,Boris Johnson,Liz Truss andRishi Sunak. A member of theConservative Party, he served as theMember of Parliament (MP) forWelwyn Hatfield from2005 to 2024. He was defeated and lost his seat in the2024 general election.
Shapps was first promoted to the Shadow Cabinet asShadow Minister for Housing and Planning in 2007. FollowingDavid Cameron's appointment as Prime Minister in 2010, Shapps was appointedMinister of State for Housing and Local Government. In the2012 cabinet reshuffle he was promoted to the Cabinet as Co-Chairman of the Conservative Party andMinister without Portfolio. In May 2015, he was demoted from the Cabinet, becomingMinister 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 supportedBoris Johnson's successful 2019 Conservative leadership bid. Upon becoming Prime Minister, Johnson appointed ShappsTransport Secretary. Since Shapps assumed the role it has exercised greater influence than under his predecessors, with theeffective nationalisation of theNorthern Trains franchise, the Williams–Shapps Review to move from a rail franchise system toconcessionaryGreat British Railwayspublic body (from 2023), and theIntegrated 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 thebackbenches. In October 2022, amid agovernment crisis, Truss appointed Shapps asHome Secretary, replacingSuella 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 whenRishi Sunak became Prime Minister, Shapps was appointedSecretary of State for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy, succeedingJacob Rees-Mogg.[3] He was then appointedEnergy Secretary inFebruary 2023, and laterDefence Secretary in August 2023, holding the position until being unseated at the 2024 General Election.
Grant Shapps was born on 14 September 1968 inCroxley Green,[4]Rickmansworth,Hertfordshire, the son of Tony Shapps (c.1932–2023),[5] who ran a cinematographic and photographic equipment business,[6][7] and Beryl (née Grossman).[8][9] His family is Jewish.[10] Grant's brother, André Shapps, is a musician who was a member ofBig Audio Dynamite (BAD) between 1994 and 1998, playingkeyboards. Their cousinMick Jones was a key figure inBritish punk rock of the late 1970s and a founding member of boththe Clash and Big Audio Dynamite.[11][12][13]
Grant Shapps was educated at Yorke Mead Primary School,Watford Grammar School for Boys, where he achieved 5 'O' Levels, and atWest Herts College inWatford, where he studied business and finance.[14] He subsequently completed a business and finance course atManchester Polytechnic, and received aHigher National Diploma.[14]
Shapps was also National President of the Jewish youth organisationBBYO.[15][16] In 1989, he was involved in a car crash inKansas, United States, that left him in a coma for a week.[17]
Shapps started his working life as aphotocopier sales representative. In 1990, aged 22,[18] Shapps founded PrintHouse Corporation,[19] a design, print, website creation and marketing business in London,[14][20] based on a collapsed printing business he purchased from thereceiver.[21] He stepped down as a director in 2009,[22] but remained the majority shareholder.[21]
Shapps founded a web publishing business, How To Corp Limited, with his wife while he was recovering from cancer.[23] The company marketed business publications and software. The existence of at least three people who allegedly provided testimonials for the company has been questioned.[24] Shapps stood down as a director in July 2008; his wife remained as director until the company was dissolved in 2014.[25]
In September 2012,Google blacklisted 19 of Shapps' business websites for violating rules on copyright infringement related to theweb scraping-based TrafficPayMaster software sold by them.[26][27] Shapps's web marketing business's 20/20 Challenge publication also drew criticism. It cost $497 and promised customers earnings of $20,000 in 20 days. Upon purchase, the "toolkit" was revealed to be an ebook, advising the user to create their own toolkit andrecruit 100 "Joint Venture Partners" to resell it for a share of the profits.[28][29]
Shapps's use of the namesMichael Green,Corinne Stockheath andSebastian Fox attracted media attention in 2012. He denied having used a pseudonym after entering parliament and, in 2014, threatened legal action against a constituent who had stated onFacebook that he had. In February 2015, he toldLBC Radio: "I don't have a second job and have never had a second job while being an MP. End of story."[30]
In March 2015, Shapps said he had made an error in his interview with LBC and was "mistaken over the dates" of his outside employment. He said he had "over-firmly denied" having a second job. David Cameron defended Shapps, saying he had made a mistake and it was time to "move on".[31][32][33] In March 2015, Dean Archer, the constituent previously threatened with legal action by Shapps, threatened Shapps with legal action.[34][35]
After deciding to go into politics, Shapps wrote toWatfordConservative MPTristan Garel-Jones, who invited him to theHouse of Commons and gave Shapps advice. Shapps made his first foray into politics in1990, when he was a Conservative candidate for aLabour-held seat inOld Moat ward onManchester City Council. Shapps finished in a distant second place.[36][37]
In1994, Shapps stood as a Conservative candidate for the two-member St Andrews ward in theLondon Borough of Brent local elections, but was unsuccessful in being returned as a councillor, withLabour narrowly holding both seats.[38]
Shapps unsuccessfully contestedNorth Southwark and Bermondsey at the1997 general election, finishing third with 6.9% of the vote behind the incumbentLiberal Democrat MPSimon Hughes and theLabour Party candidate.[39][40]
Shapps stood forWelwyn Hatfield at the2001 general election, finishing second with 40.4% of the vote behind the incumbent Labour MPMelanie Johnson.[41][18] He was reselected to fight Welwyn Hatfield in 2002 and continued his local campaigning over the next four years.
At the2005 general election Shapps was elected as MP for Welwyn Hatfield, winning with 49.6% and a majority of 5,946.[42][43]
Shapps publicly backedDavid Cameron's bid for the leadership of the Conservative Party, seconding Cameron's nomination papers. Upon Cameron's election as party leader Shapps was appointed vice chairman of the Conservative Party with responsibility for campaigning.[18]
He was a member of thePublic Administration Select Committee between May 2005 and February 2007.
At the2010 general election, Shapps was re-elected as MP for Welwyn Hatfield with an increased vote share of 57% of the vote and an increased majority of 17,423.[44][45] He was again re-elected at the2015 general election, with a decreased vote share of 50.4% and a decreased majority of 12,153.[46][47]
Shapps was opposed to the UK's withdrawal from the European Union prior to the2016 referendum and voted Remain.[48] However, following the referendum, Shapps announced he would support the result and vote to trigger Article 50. He also called on other Remain supporting MPs to do the same, arguing that voting down Article 50 to prevent Brexit would be "creating a situation which no-one wants be it MPs, voters or business" and that Parliament would contradict the fact it had granted the public a referendum on Britain's EU membership if it was not prepared to respect the result.[49]
Shapps was again re-elected at the snap2017 general election, with an increased vote share of 51% and a decreased majority of 7,369.[50]
In October 2017, Shapps called forTheresa May's resignation, saying that the party could not "bury its head in the sand" in the wake of the June election.[51] Shapps said that 30 MPs and "one or two" Cabinet ministers agreed with him thatTheresa May should resign.[52]
At the2019 general election, Shapps was again re-elected, with an increased vote share of 52.6% and an increased majority of 10,955.[53][54]
In June 2007, Shapps becameShadow Minister for Housing and Planning.[55]
He was Shadow Housing Minister during the period of the last four Labour government housing ministers. During this period of opposition, he argued in favour of a community-up approach to solving the housing crisis and warned against top-down Whitehall-driven housing targets, which he believed had failed in the past.[18]
In May 2008, Shapps was cited as one of several shadow ministers who had received cash from firms linked to their portfolios. The donors were originally recruited byMichael Gove who previously held the shadow housing portfolio.[56] The Conservative Party said shadow ministers had not been influenced by donations. "Some Conservative policy on housing is actually against the policy of the donors", said a Conservative spokesman.[57] Shadow ministers are allowed to receive donations from organisations covered by their brief as long as the person has a company in the UK or lives in the UK.[57] The Commissioner exonerated all Shadow Cabinet members involved.[58]
In April 2009, Shapps launched the Conservative Party's ninth green paper on policy, "Strong Foundations".[59] In early 2010 Shapps published a series of six speeches in a pamphlet called "Home Truths".[60]
In May 2010,after the formation of theCameron–Clegg coalition, Shapps becameMinister of State for Housing and Local Government within theCommunities and Local Government department and immediately repealedHome Information Pack (HIP) legislation.[61] He chaired the Cross-Ministerial Working Group[62] on Homelessness which includes ministers from eight Government departments.[63] The group introduced 'No Second Night Out', a policy designed to prevent rough sleeping nationwide.
As Minister of State for Housing, Shapps promoted plans for flexible rent and controversially ended automatic lifetime social tenancies.[64] He also introduced the New Homes Bonus which rewarded councils for building more homes.[65] He denied claims that changes in Housing Benefit rules would be unfair claiming that ordinary people could no longer afford some of the homes paid for by the £24bn Housing Benefit bill.[66] Shapps championedTenant Panels.[67]
At the 2011 party conference, Shapps backed the expansion of right to buy with the income being spent on replacing the sold housing with new affordable housing on a one-for-one basis.[68]
In 2012, Shapps launched StreetLink[69] – a website and phone app for the public to bring help to rough sleepers.[70]
In September 2012, Shapps was appointedCo-Chairman of the Conservative Party[71][72] inCameron's first major reshuffle. His salary was paid by the party.[73][71] That November, Shapps hired political strategistLynton Crosby to provide strategic advice and run the 2015 election campaign, and ended his tenure after the2015 general election.[74][75]
In March 2013, Shapps defended theWelfare Reform Act 2012 (often referred to as the "Bedroom Tax") saying his own children share a bedroom.[76] That September, Shapps complained to theSecretary-General of the United Nations about a press release issued in its name stating that the reforms went againsthuman rights.[77] Also in 2013, Shapps speaking on benefit reforms including capping benefits so that no out-of-work household can claim more than the average working family earns said that "nearly a million people have come off incapacity benefit... before going for the test. They've taken themselves off. My big argument here is this is not these people were trying to play the system, as much as these people were forced into a system that played them."[78] His statement was criticised byAndrew Dilnot, Chairman of theUK Statistics Authority, who said that the figure for those previously on incapacity and withdrawing was just 19,700.[78] The other 878,300 not on benefits consisted of a drop in new claimants of the ESA.
In October 2013, Shapps toldThe Daily Telegraph that theBBC could forfeit the right to itslicence fee if it did not resolve its "culture of waste and secrecy". He also suggested that the organisation was biased against the Conservative Party, saying it did not "apply fairness in both directions" and that there was a "question of credibility for the organisation".[79] His comments sparked a vigorous response from a formerBBC Director GeneralGreg Dyke who said that "politicians shouldn't define partiality".[80] Others, including the thenBBC Director GeneralTony Hall echoed some of Shapps's comments by saying that the "BBC needs to start treating public money as its own".[81]
In March 2014, Shapps tweeted support of the 2014 budget as supporting ordinary people. Opponents criticised Shapps of being patronising to working people by believing their pastimes were limited tobingo and beer, and it drew critical media coverage inThe Guardian.[82]
In 2012,The Guardian reported that Shapps'sWikipedia article had been edited from his office to remove embarrassing information and correct an error.[83][84][85] Shapps stated that he had edited it to make it more accurate.[86]
During the2015 general election campaign,The Guardian reported allegations by a Wikipedia administrator that Shapps had used asockpuppet account, Contribsx, to remove embarrassing material from his own English Wikipedia page and make "largely unflattering" edits to articles about other politicians, including some in his own party.[87][88] Shapps denied the allegations;[89] theDaily Telegraph claimed his accuser was a "Liberal Democrat activist".[90] English Wikipedia'sArbitration Committee found there was "no significant evidence" to link the Contribsx account to Shapps. The elected committee censured the administrator responsible for the allegation, for causing the investigation, for making false allegations toThe Guardian, and for blocking the Contribsx account. Another administrator removed the block placed on the account.[91]
On 11 May 2015, Shapps was sacked from the Cabinet,[92] which he had attended as Conservative Party co-chairman and Minister without portfolio at the Cabinet Office, and appointed as Minister of State at theDepartment for International Development. BBC political correspondentChris Mason said the change appeared to be a demotion,[93] whileThe Guardian's chief political correspondent,Nicholas Watt, went further, calling it "a humiliating blow".[94]
On 28 November 2015, Shapps stood down as minister of state due to allegations of bullying within the Conservative Party. It has been claimed that Shapps, in his previous role as party co-chairman, had ignored repeated allegations of bullying involvingMark Clarke, the then party youth organiser.Baroness Warsi, Shapps's predecessor as co-chair of the Conservative Party, had written to Shapps to raise concerns about Clarke's conduct in January 2015.[95] Shapps had appointed Clarke to head his party'sRoadTrip 2015 campaign in January 2015.[95] Clarke denies all allegations.[96] The alleged bullying may have caused a young party member, Elliott Johnson, to commit suicide.[97] The day before Shapps's resignation, Johnson's father had called on Shapps to step down and made the following comments:[96][97]
Feldman, Shapps and whoever else is involved in this – clearly these senior members of the party have been telling lies ... If they had behaved responsibly ... none of these events would have happened; my son would still be alive and many activists wouldn't have been intimidated and harassed.[97]
In August 2018, theFinancial Times reported[98] that it had discovered a "secret pay deal" between Shapps and OpenBrix, a Britishblockchain property portal company. The story alleged that Shapps would have received payment in cryptocurrency tokens with a future value of up to £700,000. Shapps resigned from OpenBrix and from his position as chairman of theall-party parliamentary group on blockchain which he had founded. Subsequently,Jo Platt, an opposition politician, called for an enquiry into Shapps' conduct, although Shapps maintained that he had confirmed with the standards commissioner that he was not required to register the interest, and that he had recorded the conversation with the relevant official.[99]
Boris Johnson appointed ShappsSecretary of State for Transport upon his accession to Prime Minister. In theFebruary 2020 cabinet reshuffle he retained this portfolio.[100] He was given Cabinet responsibility for theNorthern Powerhouse.[101]
In May 2020, the Secretary of State for Transport announced the Active Travel Fund,[102] which included funding allocations for emergency active travel schemes for local authorities.
On 23 September 2019,Thomas Cook Group fell into administration, leaving more than 150,000 British tourists in need of repatriation. When asked why the Government chose not to bail out the company, Shapps said, "I fear it would have kept them afloat for a very short period of time and then we would have been back in the position of needing to repatriate people in any case."[103]
In October 2019, Shapps, a keen pilot, wrote to theCivil Aviation Authority (CAA), urging it to prioritise the protection of aerodromes and cut red tape for pilots. He was accused byAndy McDonald MP,Shadow Transport Secretary, of "putting his hobbyhorse aviation ahead of the greater good" at a time when the CAA was involved in Brexit planning,Heathrow Airport expansion, and dealing with the collapse of Thomas Cook Group.[104][105] He was later accused by MPsSarah Olney (Liberal Democrat) andGrahame Morris (Labour) of undermining the CAA by registering his private, UK-based plane in the USA instead of the UK, while Transport Secretary.[104][105]
In 2021,The Times reported that the Airfield Advisory Team set up by Shapps within CAA lobbied against the redevelopment of private airfields used by general aviation. The newspaper alleged that the team interferes with the government housing plans. He also set up a scheme, offering rebates to pilots who purchaseanti-collision "electronic conspicuity" devices used to detect positions of other aircraft in the air.[106]
In May 2020, Shapps unveiled investment in cycle lanes totalling £250 million and plans fore-scooters to be trialled on British roads.[107]
In January 2022, Shapps collaborated with voice-over and social media personality Seb Sargent as part of aDepartment for Transport pledge to reduce unnecessary train announcements on trains, which was criticised for being similar to "a parody."[108][109][110]
Shapps announced hiscampaign for leadership of the Conservative Party, following the resignation ofBoris Johnson, on 9 July 2022.[111] He withdrew from the race on 12 July, endorsingRishi Sunak for leader.[112]
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Shapps was appointedHome Secretary on 19 October 2022 following the resignation ofSuella Braverman.[113] This occurred one day before Prime MinisterLiz Truss announced her own resignation.[114]
Shapps was appointedbusiness secretary on 25 October 2022 byRishi Sunak after the resignation of former business secretaryJacob Rees-Mogg while Suella Braverman returned to the position of Home Secretary.[115]
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Following a cabinet reshuffle, Shapps was moved into the newly created portfolio ofSecretary of State for Energy Security and Net Zero. Shapps' newly formedministry had been formed from responsibilities taken from his previous role. He was the first holder of the role of Energy Secretary sinceAmber Rudd in 2016.
On 31 August 2023, Shapps was appointedSecretary of State for Defence, replacingBen Wallace.[116]
In December, he warned that Europe had to look out for their own security, citing how the US support for Ukraine has recently been waning. He also announced details of a new Maritime Capability Coalition for Ukraine, alongside his Norwegian counterpart,Bjørn Arild Gram, which their respective countries are leading.[117]
He married Belinda Goldstone in 1997. The couple have three children.[55] In 1999 Shapps was diagnosed withHodgkin's lymphoma and underwentchemotherapy andradiotherapy, recovering from the cancer by the following year.[16][118][119] After the successful chemotherapy, his children[120] were conceived byIVF.[18]
Shapps lists his recreations inWho's Who as "private pilot withIMC [Instrument Meteorological Conditions] and night qualifications".[9]
Shapps is Jewish: in a 2010 interview withThe Jewish Chronicle, he stated that he followsJewish traditions but personally considers himself to be anagnostic and anindifferentist.[121]
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