LONDON — Britain’s has a new defense secretary. The surprise choice for the role, vacated by Ben Wallace, is Energy Secretary Grant Shapps.
The appointment follows Wallace’s announcement earlier this summer that he would stand down after more than four years in the post. He formerly vacated his position Aug. 31 with a letter to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, carrying a veiled warning against cuts in defense spending.
“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,” he wrote.
This will be Shapps’ fifth senior Cabinet position in a year. As one of Britain’s most experienced ministers, Shapps has held numerous senior positions across government, but nothing involving defense.
Treasury Secretary John Glen was widely tipped as Wallace’s replacement, as was former Defence Secretary Liam Fox, who departed the Defence Ministry in 2011.
Some analysts and politicians have expressed concern about Shapps, arguing he lacks direct knowledge of the complex geopolitical, military and industrial issues critical to the job.
“There is no other way of saying this: Shapps is a bad choice in my view and a potential disaster for U.K. defense, and may well go down as — of all the decisions the current prime minister, Rishi Sunak, has so far made — the worst by a very long mark,” said Howard Wheeldon of the consultancy Wheeldon Strategic Advisory. “Not for the first time, a U.K. prime minister has seemingly appointed a Cabinet minister who will do as he is told.”
Speaking on BBC Radio 4 on Thursday, political journalist Rachel Cunliffe of the New Statesman magazine said the appointment made some sense.
“He is a canny political operator, and he has served under four of the last five conservative prime minister[s]. He is a great survivor. Rishi Sunak has clearly made the decision that he wants someone in that post that he can trust and an ally in his Cabinet, and Grant Shapps fits the bill,” she said.
The Labour Party’s shadow defense secretary, John Healey, congratulated Shapps on his appointment but said a new defense secretary would not change the Conservative Party’s record on defense.
“After 13 years of Tory defense failings, a change at the top will not change this record. On further cuts to the Army, growing concerns over the U.K.’s NATO commitments and billions of pounds being wasted through defense procurement, the defence secretary has serious questions to deal with in the days ahead,” Healey said.
Ben Barry, a senior fellow for land warfare at the International Institute for Strategic Studies think tank in London, said Wallace will be a tough act to follow.
“He’s been a good defense secretary, getting many tough judgement calls right and securing much-needed additional funds for defense, but not all the previous hollowing out has been reversed, and his successor faces significant challenges,” Barry explained.
“There is unfinished business to attend to for Wallace’s successor. He will need to work on the poor procurement process and growth in equipment costs. If it’s true that the Ajax [armored vehicle] project is on track, this will be welcomed, but new nuclear capabilities appear to have apparently unconstrained growth in costs. Declaring which U.K. forces will be assigned to NATO is also now overdue,” Barry added. “The Ukraine war has exposed the considerable hollowing-out of both combat capability and stockpiles. While some money has been allocated to reverse this, it’s not clear whether that will be sufficient.”
Jon Louth , an independent analyst, said he didn’t expect Shapps to be involved much in shaping the country’s defense sector.
“I don’t think we will hear a great deal from him in relation to defense. He’s more a front-line, general political performer rather than a sharp, focused, details man. His value is his communications skills — able to talk for the government as we go into the next election,” he said.
Andrew Chuter is the United Kingdom correspondent for Defense News.
