UK PM Rishi Sunak appoints new secretary of defence

Grant Shapps

Grant Shapps, one of British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's staunchest Cabinet allies, was named UK defence secretary on Thursday as Sunak began a Cabinet reshuffle ahead of a general election that is expected to take place next year.

The move came after Ben Wallace submitted his resignation earlier in the day, honouring a promise made last month. Wallace was defence secretary for four years, overseeing Britain's military response to the war in Ukraine.

Shapps, who supported Sunak during his campaign to become Conservative Party leader and prime minister last year, has been a Cabinet member since 2019, most recently serving as secretary of state for the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero.

Shapps is known as a gifted communicator, a key attribute ahead of what is likely to be a bruising general election campaign. But he has no experience in the fraught and complicated world of defence, which the ongoing conflict in Ukraine has complicated.

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