Grant Shapps
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.
Grant Shapps | |
|---|---|
Official portrait, 2022 | |
| Secretary of State for Defence | |
| Assumed office 31 August 2023 | |
| Prime Minister | Rishi Sunak |
| Preceded by | Ben Wallace |
| 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 |
| 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 | |
| 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 Housing and 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 for Welwyn Hatfield | |
| Assumed office 5 May 2005 | |
| Preceded by | Melanie Johnson |
| Majority | 10,955 (21.0%) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 14 September 1968 Croxley Green, Hertfordshire, England |
| Political party | Conservative |
| Spouse |
Belinda Goldstone (m. 1997) |
| Children | 3 |
| Alma mater | Manchester Polytechnic (HND) |
| Signature | |
Shapps was first elected to the House of Commons in 2005 general election and was 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 2019 Conservative leadership bid. It was successful, and Johnson appointed Shapps Transport Secretary in July. 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. 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. He was then appointed Energy Secretary in February 2023, and later Defence Secretary in August 2023.