Grant Shapps

Sir Grant Shapps (born 14 September 1968) is a British politician who served in various cabinet positions under Prime Ministers David Cameron, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak between 2012 and 2024, lastly as Secretary of State for Defence from August 2023 to July 2024. Shapps served as Conservative Party Co-chairman from 2010 to 2012 under Cameron, Transport Secretary from 2019 to 2022 under Johnson, and briefly as Home Secretary in 2022 under Truss. Under Sunak, he served as Business Secretary, Energy Secretary and later Defence Secretary. A member of the Conservative Party, he was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Welwyn Hatfield from 2005 to 2024. Born in Croxley Green, Shapps attended Watford Grammar School for Boys and West Herts College. He studied at Manchester Polytechnic and was national president of BBYO. He began his career as a photocopier sales representative and then worked in business, founding several of his own companies. Shapps stood as a councillor for the Manchester City Council in 1990 and then for the London Borough of Brent in 1994 but was unsuccessful both times. He stood for Parliament in 1997 for the North Southwark and Bermondsey constituency but was defeated. After an unsuccessful 2001 general election candidacy, Shapps was elected MP for Welwyn Hatfield at the 2005 general election. In 2007, he was promoted to the Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Minister for Housing and Planning. After the Conservative party's victory in the 2010 general election, he was appointed to the government as 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, Cameron demoted him from cabinet, with Shapps being appointed Minister of State for International Development. In November 2015, he...