Grant Shapps, English politician
Grant Shapps (born 14 September 1968) is a British politician who has served as Secretary of State for Transport since 2019. Shapps also has Cabinet responsibility for the Northern Powerhouse. A member of the Conservative Party, he has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for Welwyn Hatfield since 2005.Following the 2010 general election, he was appointed Minister of State for Housing and Local Government and was sworn of the Privy Council. He served in Prime Minister David Cameron’s Cabinet as Chairman of the Conservative Party from 2012 to 2015, also holding the title of Minister without Portfolio in the Cabinet Office. His salary was paid by the party. In May 2015, he was demoted from the Cabinet and his post as party chairman, becoming Minister of State for International Development. On 28 November 2015, he stood down from his ministerial position due to allegations of bullying within the Conservative Party.After he supported Boris Johnson's 2019 Conservative leadership bid, when Johnson became prime minister, he appointed Shapps as Transport Secretary in July. Since Shapps assumed the role it has exercised greater influence than under his predecessors, with the effective nationalisation of the Northern Trains franchise, the Williams-Shapps Review to move from a rail franchise system to concessionary Great British Railways public body (from 2023), COVID-19 travel restrictions to and from the United Kingdom, and the Integrated Rail Plan published in 2021 which sets out the long-term strategy for rail in northern England and the Midlands.