Grant Shapps vows to continue support for Ukraine as he replaces Ben Wallace as Defence Secretary
Grant Shapps has vowed to continue the UK's support for Ukraine after being appointed Defence Secretary in Rishi Sunak's mini-reshuffle prompted by Ben Wallace's formal resignation.
Mr Shapps has never held a role in the Ministry of Defence before, but is taking on his fifth role in the Cabinet in the last year by becoming its Secretary of State.
Writing on X, formerly known as Twitter, Mr Shapps said: "I'm honoured to be appointed as Defence Secretary by @RishiSunak
"I'd like to pay tribute to the enormous contribution Ben Wallace has made to UK defence & global security over the last 4 years."
He said he was looking forward to working with the "brave men and women of our Armed Forces who defend our nation’s security" and continuing the UK's support for Ukraine "in their fight against Putin's barbaric invasion".
Former Chief of the General Staff Lord Dannatt says Mr Shapps knows "very little about defence", adding it will take him "quite some time to get up to speed".
The crossbench peer told Sky News that Mr Wallace "did a good job" but leaves with "work in progress".
"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," Lord Dannatt said.
He continued: "I think what the Chief of Defence Staff and the single service chiefs will be hoping from the new Secretary of State for Defence is that he will listen to the concerns that they have within the wider context of the insecurity of the world.
"And although he may well have been appointed as someone who is going to support the Prime Minister and help the Conservative Party in its general election campaign, they will be hoping that he will really understand defence and push the case for defence, not just for the Ministry of Defence’s own benefit, but for the benefit of the whole country.
"Because there is a very strong case that we should be investing more in defence than we currently are. Ben Wallace knew that. Ben Wallace was arguing for it. Is that discussion going to continue? Or will Grant Shapps choose to go quietly?"
In Westminster, Mr Shapps is seen as an effective communicator and will be key for Mr Sunak as he leads the Conservatives towards a general election, which is expected next year.
The war in Ukraine had been a prominent feature of Mr Shapps' tenure when he was energy secretary, as he sought to mitigate the effects on fossil fuel availability.
He visited Kyiv last week and his family has hosted Ukrainian refugees in their home after Vladimir Putin launched his invasion last year.
Mr Sunak first appointed Mr Shapps to the role of business secretary after entering No 10. He served as Liz Truss’s home secretary for six days and Boris Johnson’s transport secretary until September.
Former education minister Claire Coutinho replaces Mr Shapps as Energy Secretary.
Shadow defence secretary John Healey congratulated Mr Shapps on his appointment, but hit out at "13 years of Tory defence failures", arguing that "a change at the top will not change this record".
The Liberal Democrats accused Mr Sunak of appointing a "yes-man" to the key role, calling for an end to the ministerial "merry-go-round" under the Tories.
Ben Wallace, a former British Army officer, was the Conservatives' longest-serving defence secretary, being in the role under three prime ministers. He confirmed his departure from the Ministry of Defence (MOD) on Thursday after announcing last month he would be stepping down.
In his resignation letter, Mr Wallace praised the "first class" professionalism of the Armed Forces and said the MOD was "back on the path to being once again world class".
"The United Kingdom is respected around the world for our Armed Forces and that respect has only grown more since the war in Ukraine," he said in the letter.
"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."
Mr Wallace had made little secret of his desire to boost the defence forces budget and repeated his case for investment in his letter to Mr Sunak.
"I genuinely believe that over the next decade the world will get more insecure and more unstable," he told the Prime Minister.
"We both share the belief that now is the time to invest."
Mr Sunak praised Mr Wallace, who was a captain in the Scots Guards before entering politics, for having "served our country with distinction".
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