British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak appointed Grant Shapps as the new Defense Minister

Grant Shapps, one of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s most ardent supporters in the British cabinet, was named Britain’s new defense minister on Thursday. Along with this, Sunak made a minor cabinet reshuffle ahead of the next year’s general elections. Earlier in the day, Ben Wallace formally resigned as Defense Minister. He had announced his plans to resign only last month. He held this position for four years, during which he also commanded the military response to the war in Ukraine. Shapps, who supported Sunak during his campaign for leader of the Conservative Party and prime minister last year, has been a member of the cabinet since 2019.

He was most recently serving as the Minister for Energy Security and Net Zero Department. The new post of Defense Minister will be his fifth as a minister within a year, having previously served as Transport Minister and also as Home Minister for a brief period. After meeting with the prime minister at 10 Downing Street, Shapps, 54, posted on X: “I am honored to be appointed Defense Minister by Rishi Sunak. I want to acknowledge the tremendous contribution Ben Wallace has made to UK defense and global security over the past four years.”

Another Sunak colleague and Indian-origin junior minister, Claire Coutinho, is in the running to replace Shapps in the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero. Wallace said in a letter to Sunak tendering his resignation, “I truly believe that the world will become more insecure and more unstable over the next decade.” He said in this, “Both of us believe that now is the time to invest. Ever since I joined the army, I have dedicated myself to serve my country. However, this dedication has paid off for me and my family.

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