Grant Shapps has been appointed as the UK’s new defence secretary, replacing Ben Wallace in what has been mooted as a mini cabinet reshuffle.
A key ally of Rishi Sunak, Shapps is viewed as a safe pair of hands who will neutralise what was an occasionally fiery relationship between No 10 and the Ministry of Defence during Wallace’s stint.
Shapps is viewed as a versatile cabinet minister, but has only served in domestic-focused briefs before: most recently as energy security and net zero secretary, briefly home secretary before that, and previously as transport secretary and the Conservative party chair.
Though a wider reshuffle of Sunak’s top team had been anticipated earlier this summer, that appears to have been pushed back until later in the year. Instead, there is likely to be a slimmed-down reorganisation centred around Wallace’s departure.