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Grant Shapps has been announced as the surprise replacement for Ben Wallace as defence secretary, as Rishi Sunak reveals a mini-shuffle of his cabinet.
The energy secretary takes over after Mr Wallace officially stepped down on Thursday, warning the prime minister not to “hollow out” defence spending.
Claire Coutinho – the junior education minister and Sunak loyalist – has been promoted to energy secretary. Another Sunak ally from the 2019 intake, David Johnston MP, takes up her old job at the education department.
Armed Forces minister James Heappey and Treasury secretary John Glen had been heavily linked with the defence role in recent tweeks – but Mr Shapps emerged as the shock favourite early this morning.
It is Mr Shapps’s fifth cabinet job in less than a year, having assumed a series of jobs in the whirlwind of Boris Johnson’s final months and Liz Truss’s short-lived spell at No 10.
After leaving No 10, the Sunak ally said that he was “honoured” to succeed Mr Wallace and paid tribute to the “enormous contribution” he had made to UK’s security over the past four years in the job.
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Mr Shapps said he was “looking forward to working with the brave men and women of our Armed Forces” and “continuing the UK’s support for Ukraine in their fight against Putin’s barbaric invasion”.
Opposition parties accused Mr Sunak of appointing a “yes man”, while military chiefs questioned whether Mr Shapps would fight the corner for the Ministry of Defence as strongly as Mr Wallace.
Sir Richard Dannatt, the former head of the Armed Forces, expressed his concern that Grant Shapps had been given the job to “support” Mr Sunak rather than “make the case” for defence budgets.
Lord Dannatt told Sky News: “Will he really understand and make the case for defence … or will he be more political and support the prime minister for party political purposes? Ben Wallace was arguing for [defence investment]. Is that discussion going to continue? Or will Grant Shapps choose to go quietly?”
Grant Shapps made a visit to a Ukrainian power station last week
(PA Media)
Sir Richard also said Mr Shapps knows “very little about defence” and it will take him “quite some time to get up to speed”. He added: “I think there is a risk that certainly the debate on resources for defence stagnates, at least until Grant Shapps can get his head around his portfolio.”
Mr Wallace revealed last month he wanted to quit Westminster and would resign at the next reshuffle. He officially stepped down on Thursday – saying he had put the MoD “back on the path to being world class”.
The outgoing defence chief had a parting message for Mr Sunak on defence spending. “I know you agree with me that we must not return to the days where defence was viewed as a discretionary spend by government and savings were achieved by hollowing out,” he said in his letter.
Warning the PM not to cut the budget, Mr Wallace added: “I genuinely believe that over the next decade the world will get more insecure and more unstable. We both share the belief that now is the time to invest.”
Despite Mr Glen and Mr Heappey being favourites for the job, Mr Shapps began to be linked with the role after making a trip to Ukraine last week. He visited a power station and announced that the government had launched a £192m loan guarantee for the war-torn country.
Grant Shapps arriving at No 10 on Thursday to get new job
(Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire)
The former Tory chairman’s rapid rise in the party stalled in 2015 when he was exposed as having worked as a marketer of get-rich-quick schemes under the pseudonym Michael Green, and anonymously editing his own entry and those of other Tories on Wikipedia.
More recently, Mr Shapps served as transport secretary under Boris Johnson but lost his job when Liz Truss took over. He was home secretary for six days during her tumultuous six-week reign, then made business secretary by Mr Sunak – before being switched to a new energy department in February.
Mr Sunak has given a major promotion to Ms Coutinho – a former special adviser at the Treasury when he was there – by appointing her energy secretary while the west is still reeling for the price shock caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Boris Johnson paid tribute to the outgoing defence secretary, and offered praise for Mr Shapps. “Sad to see departure of my friend Ben Wallace,” said the ex-PM. “A fine defence secretary who got so many calls right, especially on Ukraine. Grant Shapps is an excellent choice to succeed him.”
Rishi Sunak thanked Ben Wallace for his four years of service in the job
(PA Archive)
Labour’s shadow defence secretary John Healey congratulated Mr Shapps – but warned he was taking charge after more than a decade of Conservative failure.
“The first duty of any government is to keep our country safe and I will always work with the new defence secretary on this basis, especially on Ukraine,” he tweeted. “But after 13 years of Tory defence failures, a change at the top will not change this record.”
The Liberal Democrats said Mr Sunak had appointed a “yes man” in a crucial role – and pointed out that Mr Shapps had said in his failed Conservative leadership campaign that he thought our armed forces should be strengthened.
The party’s defence spokesperson Richard Foord said: "At a time when the armed forces need someone to stand up for them, Rishi Sunak has appointed a yes-man. This is Shapps’ fifth cabinet role in less than a year. The Conservative government merry-go-round has to stop.”
Mr Sunak praised Mr Wallace in a reply letter, telling him he leaves office with “thanks and respect”.
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The outgoing defence secretary was at one time seen as a leading leadership contender, regularly topping the ConservativeHome surveys of most popular ministers the party’s grassroots.
He ruled himself out of the running for the Conservative leadership last year despite being an early frontrunner in the race to replace Mr Johnson.
“I went into politics in the Scottish parliament in 1999. That’s 24 years. I’ve spent well over seven years with three phones by my bed,” he said last month on his desire to leave Westminster.
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