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Grant Shapps was urged to be willing to defy his “mate” Rishi Sunak and push for greater military spending after he was revealed as the surprise replacement for Ben Wallace as defence secretary.
Military chiefs and MPs questioned the appointment during a mini-reshuffle on Thursday – saying they feared Mr Shapps was an inexperienced “yes man” who had been given the job to avoid “rocking the boat” at pre-election budgets.
Claire Coutinho – the junior education minister and Sunak loyalist – will take over from Mr Shapps energy secretary. Another Sunak ally from the 2019 intake, David Johnston, takes up her old job at the education department.
Mr Shapps takes up his 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.
Sir Richard Dannatt, the former head of the Armed Forces, expressed his concern that he had been given the job to “support” Mr Sunak rather than “make the case” for defence spending.
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?”
Sir Richard also said Mr Shapps knows “very little about defence” and it will take him “quite some time to get up to speed”, saying there was a risk that the debate on resources for defence now “stagnates”.
Admiral Lord West – the former chief of UK naval staff – told The Independent he feared Mr Sunak had put his “great mate” Mr Shapps in the job not to “rock the boat” at pre-election budgets.
The former defence minister said: “It’s a surprising appointment. He’s obviously great mates with Sunak. I fear he is putting him in so he will not create any waves by demanding extra money for defence, which is very much needed.”
Lord West added: “I think it was designed to get someone who won’t rock the boat or upset the apple cart, particularly with an election coming next year. Will Grant Shapps fight that corner? I have my doubts about that. He doesn’t have a particularly brilliant background in defence. That’s my worry.”
Grant Shapps made a visit to a Ukrainian power station last week
(PA Media)
Tory MP Mark Francois – a former armed forces minister – has said many people at the Ministry of Defence (MoD) did not want Mr Shapps to get the job.
“Many people in the building wanted James [Heappey] to get the job – he hasn’t,” Mr Francois told GB News. He added: “Grant Shapps is a bright bloke, but he’s going to have to come up with the speed very, very quickly … this is going to be a very steep learning curve.”
Military figures in government have also raised eyebrows. One officer, currently in Whitehall who had served with Nato, said: “We are now in one the most dangerous period in decades with the Ukraine war and also at a time the forces having to cope with more challenges with less money.
“This is a time to have someone in charge of the department with knowledge of defence to deal with complex issues. Instead we’ve got someone who’ll need to ‘learn on the job’, and that’s worrying.”
Senior Tory MP Julian Lewis, former chair of the defence select committee, has encouraged Mr Shapps to push the Treasury for as much money as possible to reverse a relative decline in spending on the military.
“Defence expenditure under successive governments decline in comparison with other priorities, Mr Lewis told The Independent. “The new defence secretary should use all his powers of persuasion to build on the foundations laid by Ben Wallace in light of the considerable threats we face.”
Grant Shapps arriving at No 10 on Thursday to get new job
(Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire)
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.
Despite Armed Forces minister James Heappey and Treasury minister John Glen being favourites for the job, Mr Shapps began to be linked with the role after making a trip to Ukraine last week.
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.
Mr Shapps also 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”.
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 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. The party’s defence spokesperson Richard Foord said: “This is Shapps’ fifth cabinet role in less than a year. The Conservative government merry-go-round has to stop.”
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.
Mr Wallace was seen as a leading leadership contender, regularly topping the ConservativeHome surveys of most popular ministers among the party’s grassroots. He ruled himself out of the running for the leadership last year despite being a frontrunner in the race to replace Mr Johnson.
Mr Johnson paid tribute to the outgoing defence secretary, calling him a “fine defence secretary” and describing Mr Shapps as “an excellent choice to succeed him”. Mr Sunak praised Mr Wallace in a reply letter, telling him he leaves office with “thanks and respect”.
