Grant Shapps confirmed as new Defence Secretary
The new name plate on the office of the Secretary of State for Defence is going to read as Grant Shapps but some may wonder if it should be Michael Green, Corinne Stockheath or Sebastian Fox.
Those names are the fake personas that Mr Shapps used in his previous dealings as a businessman before entering politics as the MP for Welwyn Hatfield in 2005.
The slightly Del Boy past as an entrepreneur has fed into the image of a man who is a bit of a mystery but is always willing to do whatever is needed to get things done whether that stretched ethical boundaries or not.
In some ways the announcement should be one which the military should be pleased about because there is no doubt that he knows the political tricks and means to push their agenda (as long as it is also his agenda).
Shapps is a rarity in the current cabinet in that he is a proper politician who is willing to get his hands dirty wherver and whenever necessary.
READ MORE: Sunak hands major promotion to longest standing political ally in reshuffle
Rishi Sunak has had a mini reshuffle (Image: Getty)
It is fair to say that the military have not entirely endorsed his surprise appointment as Defence Secretary.
The initial reaction of one Royal Navy source was: "What the f*** [is Sunak] doing appointing Shapps as defence secretary? He knows nothing about defence, the armed forces or the need to maintain military infrastructure and spending."
After all Shapps is replacing Ben Wallace, a former army officer and MoD man through and through.
Wallace, though, for all his public negotiating on defence spending failed to get what he wanted from the Treasury and with a conditional five percent rise compared to the 10 percent he had wanted.
It may be that Shapps is the man who can finally get the MoD budget sorted.
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Liam Fox had been tipped for the job (Image: Getty)
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When Shapps was brought in as a surprise choice to temporarily replace Suella Braverman as Home Secretary in the dying days of Liz Truss's short-lived government, one ex-minister told Express.co.uk that it was "not a surprise."
The veteran MP said: "I wouldn't trust Grant as far as I could throw him but he is the Swiss Army Knife of politics, you can put him anywhere to do anything and you know he will get the job done."
Certainly, that was the view of Boris Johnson who made him Transport Secretary after he had successfully run a whipping operation in the 2019 leadership contest.
Shapps's list of which MP was supporting who in that contest became a thing of legend and he predicted almost the exact numbers for the final counts.
As Transport Secretary he was instrumental in reviving and saving (for now) the beleaguered HS2 project and was described as "the first transport secretary to take an interest in transport for years" by one insider.
When Johnson was due to do a reshuffle during the pandemic, Shapps' name came up as one who would be out.
But a Downing Street insider at the time correctly said: "Why would he sack Grant? He is a very effective minister and the boss (Boris Johnson) really rates him."
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Truss made the mistake of sacking him when she won the leadership contest last summer and soon regretted it when he orgainsed the rebellion against scrapping the 45p income tax rate.
This may be why she made him Home Secretary as she desperately tried to save her government.
But there has been a side of Shapps (not least his past fake business personas) which have led people to not trust him.
However, it is the willingness to delive into the dark arts of politics which make him ideal for a senior job.
He proved that early on as party chairman for David Cameron when he helped win the 2015 general election.
Sunak is calculating that defence will be an area of diferrentiation in the coming election campaign, he needs somebody nimble enough to launch attacks on Labour.
That is maybe why others like Penny Mordaunt, John Glen or Liam Fox who were the favourites for the job may have lost out.
It is not to everyone's taste though.
One senior Tory complained: "It is a weird appointment, putting spin above substance - the polar opposite to Ben Wallace.
"It show's Rishi's pririties are once again not the country's."
That may be the case - but Sunak's priority now must be to find a way to win the election.
What is more interesting is that in taking a political fighter out of energy and replacing him with the managerial Claire Continho he appears to be downgrading energy as a frontline issue around the green agenda.
What the move signifies though is that the battles Shapps will be engaging in as Defence Secretary will be more the political ones at home and less the military ones in Ukraine.
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