Who is new defence secretary Grant Shapps?PA, BBC
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00:06 Grant Schaps has been appointed defense secretary
00:09 in the latest cabinet reshuffle
00:11 under Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
00:14 54-year-old Mr. Schaps has been a minister
00:16 in various departments over the years
00:18 since the Conservatives came to power in 2010.
00:21 Before politics, he built a marketing and printing business
00:24 and then became Welling Hatfield's MP in 2005.
00:28 He served as a shadow minister in opposition
00:30 and became housing minister
00:32 in David Cameron's first government in 2010.
00:35 After holding multiple positions in cabinet,
00:37 he became chairman of the Conservative Party in 2012.
00:40 However, he was accused of editing his own Wikipedia entry
00:44 and that of other Conservatives in 2015
00:47 to show him in a better light.
00:49 And because of the scandal,
00:51 he was made international development secretary,
00:53 a move widely seen as a demotion.
00:56 Mr. Schaps was brought back into the fold in 2019
00:59 when he was given the position of transport secretary.
01:02 He is a self-confessed plane enthusiast
01:04 and was responsible for overseeing the transport department
01:08 during the COVID-19 pandemic.
01:10 He unsuccessfully stood for Tory leader in 2022,
01:14 but was retained by Rishi Sunak
01:16 as secretary of state for business,
01:18 energy, and industrial strategy.
01:20 And when the department was split later that year,
01:22 Mr. Schaps became the energy secretary.
01:24 At the Ministry of Defense,
01:26 he succeeds Ben Wallace,
01:27 who served for more than four years in the position.
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