Tag Archives: Grant Shapps

Grant Shapps Fails To Float Anyone’s Boat With Bewildering New Pledge: ‘None The Wiser’

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Grant Shapps’s latest efforts to promote his government have turned into a bit of a shipwreck, judging from the online reaction.

The defence secretary was on the broadcast round this morning to discuss the “new golden age of British shipbuilding”.

He announced that the UK would be building 28 new ships and submarines for the Royal Navy, including “up to six new warships”.

But eagle-eyed critics on X (formerly Twitter) were quick to notice that Shapps was curiously inconsistent around the details.

For instance, the pledge sounded quite similar to another, relatively recent promise from the Conservatives – Boris Johnson’s famous vow to build up to 40 new hospitals.

Just last year, a review from parliament’s Public Accounts Committee concluded that it had “no confidence” the government would ever deliver on this promise.

People were also completely mystified over exactly how many ships were included in this promise.

Shapps said the government was looking to build 28 ships – but then changed it to “up to 28”.

Many critics also picked up on Shapps’s confusing conflation of the six ships the government promised to build two years ago and his current pledge.

He told journalists that the Tories had the “desire to” build these boats two years ago – but did not have the “means”.

He claimed that now the UK’s defence spending has increased, the government does have the means – and so will finally be following through on this two-year-old pledge.

So…how many is the government actually building? Social media seemed to decide it was anybody’s guess.

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‘Do You Think It’s Funny?’: Kay Burley Clashes With Grant Shapps Over Tory Sleaze

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The Sky News presenter grilled the defence secretary after Mark Menzies became the latest Conservative MP to lose the party whip.

He is accused of using Tory campaign funds to pay off “bad people” he claimed had locked him in a flat, as well as for medical bills.

Menzies, the MP for Flyde in Lancashire, denies the allegations but has agreed to “relinquish” the Tory whip while the party investigates the claims, which were first reported by The Times.

As Burley grilled Shapps on the claims, he said: “I thought I was coming on to talk about the situation in Iran and the Middle East.”

Burley replied: “We’ll come to that, Mr Shapps. In the next door constituency of Blackpool South, the whip was removed from Scott Benton over a lobbying scandal.

“Peter Bone, a former Conservative MP, [lost the whip] for sexual bullying, Neil Parish for viewing porn or was it tractors in the chamber of the House of Commons. Chris Pincher allegedly molesting men at the Carlton Club.

“Eight independent MPs, former Tories. What is that saying about your party and the state of British politics this morning.”

Shapps said: “I understand what you’re driving at here. I thought I was coming on to talk about two wars in the world and you’re pressing me about some issues that I’m not particularly close to.”

As the defence secretary appeared to smirk, Burley asked him: “Do you think it’s funny, Mr Shapps?”

He replied: “I don’t think it’s funny, no one said it was funny, Kay.”

Burley said: “You seemed to be smirking about it. I’m asking you about the state of British politics this morning.”

The minister responded: “I’m not, you’re just pursuing a line of questioning about something which I didn’t come on to talk about because there two world wars, wars in the world, going on.”

Burley then interrupted him to point out: “They’re not world wars at the moment, Mr Shapps, and I’ll come onto those.

“I want to ask you about your party’s previous Tory MPs. At least eight of them are now independent MPs and I’ve listed why they are not any longer representing their constituencies as members of the Conservative Party.

“I’m asking you what people in those constituencies should be thinking about the Conservative Party ahead of the next general election.”

A clearly-annoyed Shapps replied: “I think you’re trying to draw a thread between all of them. There are MPs from other parties who have experienced similar problems or misdemeanours and it’s right that there are processes in place, but I can’t really add much to this.”

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Defence Secretary Roasted Over ‘Humiliating’ Crash Of 2 Royal Navy Warships

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Defence secretary Grant Shapps was put in the hot seat on Sunday when he was questioned over the two Royal Navy warships which recently crashed into each other.

The two warships were there as part of the UK’s ongoing presence in the Gulf when they collided off the coast of Bahrain on Friday.

The Ministry of Defence has confirmed no one was injured in the crash.

Clips of the moment the two vessels hit one another have been making the rounds on social media.

Speaking to Shapps on Sunday morning, Sky News’ Trevor Phillips said: “In the Middle East, we have three mine hunters – and two of them collided in the last few days.

“One backed into the other, thinking it was going forward, but somebody wired the engine up in the wrong way, and instead of going forward it went into reverse.

“So now, instead of having three mine hunters, we’ve only got… one.

“It’s pretty humiliating, isn’t it?”

Shapps deflected by saying just as with “all walks of life, accidents happen”.

“This was incompetence,” Phillips said.

“You may know more about it than I do,” the defence secretary said. “I’ve spoken to the First Sea Lord [Admiral Sir Ben Key] who is in charge of the Navy, and he has assured me there is an investigation under way.

“And as with all these things, we don’t say it is incompetence when we see an aircraft come down – a very rare occasion – just as this would be a rare occasion.”

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‘You’re Answering A Different Question’: Grant Shapps Clashes With Trevor Phillips Over HS2

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The defence secretary repeatedly failed to say whether the next phase of the multi-billion pound project will go ahead.

Speculation is mounting that the government will axe plans to extend the rail line from Manchester to Birmingham.

Appearing on Sky News this morning, Shapps was asked whether or not he had promised businesses HS2 would go ahead as planned while he was transport secretary.

Phillips said: “Did you personally encourage people to invest on the basis that it was to run from central London to Manchester?”

Shapps began to say: “We’ve invested…”

But Phillips told him: “You’re answering a different question.

“I’m asking you when you talked to businesses as transport secretary, did you say to them, ’look, it’s worth investing in the north in this way because there will be HS2. Did you?”

But Shapps failed to answer and instead repeated that “the government is committed to improving rail infrastructure, particularly in the north”.

He added: “Forgive me, Trevor. I think your viewers understand that I’m not here today to deliver the budget on your excellent programme.

“I’m here to talk about actually things that I can inform you about which is for example, in my role as defence secretary and our work in Ukraine.”

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Grant Shapps Mocked For ‘Invoicing’ Labour For Damage Caused By Just Stop Oil

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Grant Shapps has faced ridicule for “invoicing” the Labour Party for damage caused to a government department building by activists Just Stop Oil.

Two campaigners from the climate group have admitted spraying orange paint onto the department for energy security and net zero’s headquarters in Westminster on Wednesday after it issued more than 100 new oil and gas licences in the UK.

In a letter to Labour leader Keir Starmer, Shapps, who runs the department as energy security and net zero secretary, made a spurious link between the opposition party and Just Stop Oil.

It’s based on Dale Vince, the green energy entrepreneur, donating money to Just Stop Oil and some Labour politicians, including leader Starmer.

But that’s not the same as Just Stop Oil funding the Labour Party. Yet, Shapps claims Labour are the “political wing” of Just Stop Oil.

It’s a familiar attack line from the Conservatives – and one that fell apart under light scrutiny on BBC Question Time.

By that principle, the Conservatives would be responsible for any of its donors’ actions – which could be eye-wateringly expensive.

In his letter, Shapps said: “I am writing to you to ask you to pay to repair the damage to the department. The British public should not have to foot the bill for your mates in Just Stop Oil.”

Shapps claimed the damages are worth £3,000 to £4,000, adding: “We will send you the invoice.”

Just Stop Oil activists last Friday disrupted the opening night of the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall after running on to the stage, setting off confetti cannon and sounding air horns.

On the same night, three activists interrupted the start of the live Channel 4 comedy show, The Last Leg.

Protesters have also disrupted sporting events across Britain this year, including the Ashes and Wimbledon, as well as other events such as the Chelsea Flower Show.

No-one on Twitter seemed especially persuaded by the Shapps “stunt”.

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Grant Shapps Delivers A Blunt Message To The Government After TikTok Ban

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Grant Shapps has delivered a blunt message to the government after it introduced a TikTok ban.

Oliver Dowden, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, announced that the app would be removed from all government devices amid cybersecurity fears.

But Shapps, who is energy secretary, made it clear on his own TikTok account that he would not be closing down his own account.

He posted a 45-second clip on TikTok from the hit moving The Wolf of Wall Street, in which Leonardo DiCaprio tells a cheering crowd “I’m not fucking leaving.”

DiCaprio’s character, Jordan Belfort, adds: “The show goes on. This is my home. They’re gonna need a wrecking ball to take me out of here.”

Shapps added: “This morning the government announced a TikTok ban on government devices. That’s sensible.

“I’ve never used TikTok on government devices and can hereby confirm I will NOT be leaving TikTok any time soon.”

His post is a stinging rebuke to Dowden, who had earlier said: “Restricting the use of TikTok on Government devices is a prudent and proportionate step following advice from our cyber security experts.”

TikTok requires users to give permission for the app to access data stored on the device, which is then collected and stored by the company.

That gives TikTok access to a range of data on the device, including contacts, user content, and geolocation data.

Ministers are believed to be concerned about the way in which this data may be used by TikTok’s owners, the Chinese company ByteDance.

Parliament’s TikTok account was shut down last year after MPs raised concerns over the firm’s links to China.

The US government banned TikTok last year on federal government-issued devices due to national security concerns.

Meanwhile, staff working at the European Commission have been ordered to remove the TikTok app from their phones and corporate devices.

A TikTok spokesperson said: “We are disappointed with this decision. We believe these bans have been based on fundamental misconceptions and driven by wider geopolitics, in which TikTok, and our millions of users in the UK, play no part.

“We remain committed to working with the government to address any concerns but should be judged on facts and treated equally to our competitors.

“We have begun implementing a comprehensive plan to further protect our European user data, which includes storing UK user data in our European data centres and tightening data access controls, including third-party independent oversight of our approach.”

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Grant Shapps Says Liz Truss’s Economic Approach ‘Clearly Wasn’t Right’

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Business secretary Grant Shapps has said Liz Truss’s approach to tackling low economic growth “clearly wasn’t” the right one.

Shapps said that while he agreed with the former prime minister that the UK should have a lower-tax economy, that could not happen without “laying out the groundwork” first by tackling inflation and controlling debt.

The Cabinet minister, who served as Truss’s home secretary for just six days, was speaking in response to a 4,000-word article penned by Truss in the Telegraph on Saturday.

In the article, Truss claimed she was not given a “realistic chance” to enact her policies to cut taxes and boost growth, which she argued were correct.

Truss’s 49 days in office ended following the market turmoil caused by her chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini-budget, which unveiled £45 billion-worth of unfunded tax cuts.

It caused the value of the pound to plunge, interest rates to soar and led to the Bank of England having to bail out the UK’s pensions industry.

Truss said that while she was not “blameless” about the market turmoil that ensued, she was nevertheless held back by a “very powerful economic establishment” and a “lack of political support”.

Taking aim at her own party, she said she had “underestimated the resistance… to move to a lower-tax, less-regulated economy”.

Her intervention — her first since standing down in October — has reignited a debate in the Conservative Party about how it grapples with high taxes and sluggish economic growth.

A recent bleak forecast from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) stated that the UK economy will perform worse than every other major country in 2023 — including sanctions-hit Russia.

Asked whether he thought Truss’s approach to the economy was right, Shapps replied: “Clearly it wasn’t.”

Shapps also defended the Conservative Party from Truss’s criticisms, saying: “No-one wants to pay higher levels of taxes but I think you have to set this in an international context.

“Every Western government has been hit by Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine and experienced through-the-roof energy costs, and has then experienced high levels of inflation.

“People might mistakenly think this is something happening in Britain and Britain alone. In fact if you look at the international comparisons, it is happening around the world. Every government is struggling with this.”

Truss has kept a low profile ever since she was ousted from the top job after just 49 days in office —until now.

Her intervention represents another headache for Rishi Sunak, who is already battling with the resurgence of Boris Johnson.

The former prime minister has also put pressure on Sunak over the economy, calling on him to cut taxes before the next election.

The prime minister has repeatedly said that inflation must be brought under control but the government can contemplate slashing taxes.

Johnson also criticised Sunak’s decision not to send British fighter jets to Ukraine following a plea from Kyiv to Western allies.

Downing Street has said it would not be “practical” to send jets to Ukraine. The UK has, however, sent 14 Challenger 2 tanks to assist with the war effort against Russia.

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‘Life And Limb Must Come First’ – Grant Shapps Defends Controversial Anti-Strikes Bill

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Grant Shapps today said “life and limb must come first” as he defended a controversial new anti-strike bill.

The Business Secretary was promoting the new law aimed at ensuring a minimum level of service in crucial sectors during industrial action.

Shapps said the government want to end “forever strikes” and argued that the government’s legislation would bring the UK “into line” with other European countries.

The move has sparked threats of legal challenges, while Labour has said it would likely repeal the legislation.

The bill will be introduced to parliament on Tuesday afternoon, a day after crisis talks between ministers and unions failed to resolve industrial disputes involving nurses, teachers and rail workers.

Shapps told GB News: “I’ll be introducing a minimum safety level bill, which will sort of say, ‘look, we will never withdraw the right to strike from people but when there are strikes on life and limb must come first, and there has to be a minimum safety standard put in place for that’.”

He added: “We don’t really ever want to have to use that legislation.

“In those most recent strikes, the Royal College of Nursing, the nurses, agreed a set national level of support.

“Unfortunately, we couldn’t get there with ambulances across the country, meaning there was a bit of a postcode lottery as to whether an ambulance would turn up in the case of something serious, like a heart attack or a stroke.

“We can’t have that, so common sense tells us that we need to have minimum safety levels.”

Health Secretary Steve Barclay is considering backdating next year’s NHS staff pay increase to prevent further strikes.

He suggested that improvements in efficiency could “unlock additional funding”, leading to an increased offer for the 2023/24 pay settlement in the spring.

Sara Gorton, from Unison, said there had been an “acknowledgement” that avoiding strikes would “involve a reach-back” into the current pay year.

It raises the prospect that the pay deal for 2023/24, which is due to be agreed in time for April, could be backdated and applied to the final quarter of the 2022/23 financial year.

Ministers have previously refused to discuss wages for nurses and other public-sector workers, insisting those were matters for the independent pay review bodies.

Prime minister Rishi Sunak will chair his first Cabinet meeting of in 2023 on Tuesday morning.

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Grant Shapps Says He Will Never Hold Talks With The RMT To End Rail Strikes

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Grant Shapps has insisted he will never sit down with the RMT to end the rail strikes.

The transport secretary said it was a “red herring” to suggest he should get involved in the negotiations.

Around 40,000 RMT members have staged another walkout today in a dispute over proposed changes to working conditions, job cuts and pay.

The union and Labour have called on ministers to get round the table to thrash out a deal to end the industrial action bringing misery to millions of commuters.

But speaking to Sky News, Shapps said: “They don’t need to speak to ministers because their employers are the people who have the mandate to negotiate this, they are the people who they can resolve this with, so this is just them trying to distract attention.”

He added: “It’s not a question of washing my hands, it’s just that I’m not the right person to be in the room negotiating.

“I’m not the right person to discuss, for example, the maintenance schedules of individual groups of workers in situations where they have to send out an entire roster to do a job that may just require one or two people.

“There simply is no reason for the unions to be speaking to anybody other than the employers.”

Asked if he would get involved at any stage, Shapps said: “It’s a no. This is a game by the unions – it’s a complete red herring as well and it’s simply not how strikes are resolved. It can only ever be the employer – in this case Network Rail and the train operating companies – and the union.”

Shadow transport secretary Louise Haigh said: “Grant Shapps has the power to settle this dispute, so it is utterly shameful he is refusing to do his job and enter talks to end this disruption.

“The Transport secretary has spent more time on his own doomed leadership bid, than he has resolving these strikes.

“This hapless Conservative government is so mired in scandal and chaos, they refuse to do the job they’re paid for and sort this dispute out.”

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Grant Shapps Vows To Create A ‘Tory Campaigning University’ If Made PM

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Grant Shapps has vowed to create a “Tory campaigning university” if he is made prime minister.

The transport secretary has written to Conservative MPs as part of his pitch to replace Boris Johnson.

In his letter, the senior cabinet minister set out his “campaigning promise” to MPs, including the establishment of a Tory “centre of excellence”.

He added: “A sort of Tory campaigning university, where we can all learn from each other and from the latest developments internationally.

“I will give all colleagues significantly improved access to polling, and to a database of statements, facts and achievements to help you win arguments.”

His campaign has so far centred on promises to help Tory MPs hold on to their seats at the next election.

Shapps has sought to differentiate himself from the other candidates by stressing his experience as a “successful campaigner and organiser”.

“If you choose me to be your next prime minister, I will not be the sort to just sit behind my desk,” he wrote.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps.

Leon Neal via Getty Images

His promise includes the creation of a “campaign strike force” that would see polling, media and other experts travelling from seat to seat to devise localised campaigns.

Shapps said MPs would have the “very best resources” with more central funding for local campaigning and access to the latest techniques and technology.

He also vowed to create a larger political operation in No.10 and promised to brief MPs ahead of major announcements.

Shapps added: “As prime minister I will visit every single seat held by a Conservative MP. We have all experienced how much a ministerial visit can galvanise our local associations and volunteers, as well as local media. I will get out of Whitehall to come and campaign for you.”

Shapps is one of at least 11 MPs who have thrown their hat in the ring to replace Johnson.

The Johnson loyalist set up his stall by vowing to end “tactical government by an often-distracted centre”.

The grammar school educated MP for Welwyn Hatfield suggested his own leadership would bring a return to a more traditionally Conservative approach to state, pledging to curb taxes.

The 53-year-old, who has three children, said tackling the cost-of-living crisis and strengthening the economy to become the biggest in Europe are top of his agenda.

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