Jump to content

Grant Shapps

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 85.237.212.58 (talk) at 18:24, 20 July 2013 (Undid revision 564540441 by Kookiethebird (talk) lengthy and appears political + lacking in NPOV). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

The Right Honourable
Grant Shapps
MP
Minister without Portfolio
Incumbent
Assumed office
4 September 2012
Serving with Kenneth Clarke
Prime MinisterDavid Cameron
Preceded byBaroness Warsi
Chairman of the Conservative Party
Incumbent
Assumed office
4 September 2012
Serving with Lord Feldman
LeaderDavid Cameron
Preceded byBaroness Warsi
Minister of State for Housing
and Local Government
In office
13 May 2010 – 4 September 2012
Prime MinisterDavid Cameron
Preceded byJohn Healey (Housing)
Rosie Winterton (Local Govt)
Succeeded byMark Prisk
Member of Parliament
for Welwyn Hatfield
Incumbent
Assumed office
5 May 2005
Preceded byMelanie Johnson
Majority17,423 (35.6%)
Personal details
Born (1968-09-14) 14 September 1968 (age 56)
Watford, Hertfordshire, England
Political partyConservative
SpouseBelinda Shapps
Children3
Alma materManchester Polytechnic

Grant V. Shapps[1] (born 14 September 1968), Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for Welwyn Hatfield in the United Kingdom. He first won the seat in the general election on 5 May 2005 and was returned to parliament in the May 2010 election with a 17,423 majority.[2]

On 9 June 2010, he was appointed as a Privy Counsellor.[3] On 4 September 2012, he was appointed Conservative Party Chairman,[4] replacing Baroness Warsi; he was also appointed Minister without Portfolio, in the Cabinet Office, an unpaid post.[5]

Family and early life

Shapps was born in Watford, Hertfordshire to a British Jewish family.[6] He was educated at Yorke Mead Primary School, Watford Grammar School for Boys where he received five O-levels,[7] followed by Cassio College.[8] He completed a business and finance course at Manchester Polytechnic, and received a Higher National Diploma.[8] Shapps was also a B'nai B'rith youth leader.[6] In 1989, Shapps was in a car crash in Kansas, United States, leaving him in a coma for a week.[9]

Shapps married Belinda Goldstone in 1997 and they have three children.[10] In 2000 he had chemotherapy and recovered from cancer, his children being conceived by IVF after the therapy.[11] Mick Jones, a former member of punk rock band The Clash, is Shapps' cousin.[12][13]

Political career

Parliamentary candidacy

Shapps stood unsuccessfully for parliament during the 1997 election as the Conservative candidate for North Southwark and Bermondsey.[14]

Shapps stood for the Welwyn Hatfield constituency for the 2001 election, again unsuccessfully.[11] He was reselected to fight Welwyn Hatfield in 2002 and continued his local campaigning over the next four years.

Member of Parliament

Shapps stood again in the 2005 election and was elected as the Conservative MP for Welwyn Hatfield, defeating the Labour MP and Minister for Public Health, Melanie Johnson. He received 22,172 votes (49.6%) recording the second highest swing in the 2005 election of 8.2% from Labour to Conservative, a majority of 5,946 (13.3%).

Shapps publicly backed David Cameron's bid for the leadership of the Conservative Party, seconding Cameron's nomination papers. Upon Cameron's election as party leader Shapps was appointed vice chairman of the Conservative Party with responsibility for campaigning.[11]

Shapps was a member of the Public Administration Select Committee between May 2005 and February 2007.

Shadow housing minister

In June 2007, Shapps became shadow housing minister,[10] outside the shadow cabinet, but entitled to attend its meetings. Shapps was shadow housing minister during the period of the last four Labour government housing ministers.

Shapps argued in favour of a community-up approach to solving the housing crisis and warned against the then Labour government's strategy of top-down Whitehall driven housing targets, which he believed had failed in the past.[11] In his 2007, 2008 and 2009 Conservative Party conference speeches on housing, Shapps outlined a vision of localism being used to replace centrally imposed housing targets with the aim of creating more new build overall.[15]

In May 2008, Shapps revealed to the parliamentary commissioner that he had accepted donations amounting to several thousand pounds from companies linked to his housing portfolio (two online mortgage brokers, an estate agent, a commercial property developer and a firm of solicitors specialising in conveyancing and remortgaging).[16] Because of the companies' links to his portfolio, there were allegations of sleaze in the press.[17] The Conservative party denied that Grant Shapps had been influenced by the donations and a party spokesman is reported to have said "Some of the Conservative policy on housing is actually against the policy of the donors".[16] Shadow ministers are allowed to receive donations from organisations covered by their brief as long as the person has a company in the UK or lives in the UK.[16] The Commissioner exonerated all shadow cabinet members involved.[17]

In April 2009, Shapps launched the Conservative party's ninth green paper on policy, "Strong Foundations".[18] In it Shapps argued for new Local Housing Trusts designed to allow local communities to grant themselves planning permission to expand and a new Right To Move intended to encourage more mobility within the social housing sector.[18]

In the MPs expenses scandal of 2009 Shapps was categorised by The Daily Telegraph as an "expenses saint".[19]

Minister of State for Housing and Local Government

At the 2010 election he received a further 11.1% Labour to Conservative swing registering a majority of 17,423. He was tipped as a possible future leader by Daily Mail writer Quentin Letts.[20]

In May 2010 Shapps became housing and local government minister within the Communities and Local Government department and immediately repealed Home Information Pack (HIP) legislation.[21] He chairs the Cross-Ministerial Working Group[22] on Homelessness which includes Ministers from eight Government departments.

As Minister of State for Housing, Shapps promoted plans for flexible rent and, controversially, proposals for amending tenure for future social tenants.[23] Shapps also promoted plans to reward councils for backing new housing through a scheme known as the New Homes Bonus[24] and denied claims that changes in Housing Benefit rules would be unfair[25] and championed Tenant Panels.[26]

At the 2011 party conference, Shapps backed the expansion of right to buy with the income being spent on replacing the sold housing with new affordable housing on a one for one basis.[27]

Conservative Party Chairman

In September 2012, Shapps was appointed Co-Chairman of the Conservative Party in Cameron's first major reshuffle.

In March 2013 Shapps defended the then new government policy 'The Under Occupancy Penalty' (often referred to as the 'Bedroom Tax'[28] ) by telling Sky News that his own children share a bedroom.[29] He was criticized for misrepresenting his situation, given that he is a millionaire,[30] as being comparable to a family in receipt of housing benefit.[31]

Professional and writing career

In 1990, aged 22,[11] Shapps founded PrintHouse Corporation, a design, print, website creation and marketing business in London.[8][32] He stepped down as a director in 2009.[33]

References

  1. ^ Shapps' full name as given when he was nominated as a Parliamentary candidate for Welwyn Hatfield in the 2001 general election. See "Election 2001: The Official Results", Electoral Commission/Politico's Publishing, 2001, pp. 209, 370.
  2. ^ "Shapps: 'Real desire to make Tory/Lib Dem coalition work'". Welwyn Hatfield Times. 13 May 2010. Retrieved 13 May 2010.
  3. ^ "Privy Council appointments, 9 June 2010". Privy Council. Retrieved 26 July 2010.
  4. ^ "Cabinet reshuffle: David Cameron's new line-up". BBC. Retrieved 8 September 2012.
  5. ^ "Her Majesty's Government". Parliament.uk. 3 June 2010. Retrieved 8 September 2012.
  6. ^ a b Jessica Elgot (14 May 2010). "New Jewish ministers and the Miliband rivalry". The Jewish Chronicle.
  7. ^ Paton, Graeme (9 September 2012). "Grant Shapps 'edited Wikipedia page to remove school records'". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 25 May 2013.
  8. ^ a b c "Meet the MP: Grant Shapps". BBC News. 16 June 2005. Retrieved 29 April 2010.
  9. ^ "MP talks about recovering from coma".
  10. ^ a b "Parliamentary Candidate for Welwyn Hatfield Shadow Housing Minister". The Conservative Party. Retrieved 29 April 2010.
  11. ^ a b c d e Porter, Andrew (29 December 2007). "How Grant Shapps slept rough for Christmas". London: Telegraph. Retrieved 29 April 2010.
  12. ^ Newsnight, BBC2, 14 April 2010
  13. ^ Grant Shapps, Conservative, Welywn Hatfield Echo, May 2010
  14. ^ "Southwark North and Bermondsey-the 2005 general election". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 29 April 2010.[dead link‍]
  15. ^ "In full:Shapps speech on housing". BBC News. 1 October 2007. Retrieved 29 April 2010.
  16. ^ a b c Shadow ministers take cash from firms linked to their portfolios The Guardian, 16 May 2008
  17. ^ a b Shadow Chancellor George Osborne's £500,000 secret donations[dead link‍]
  18. ^ a b "Sharp launches new housing policies". The Conservative Party. 7 April 2009. Retrieved 29 April 2010.
  19. ^ "MPs' expenses: The saints (Part ii)-Grant Shapps". London: The Telegraph. Retrieved 29 April 2010.
  20. ^ Letts, Quentin (23). "He stood up to the old class warrior, almost snarling". Daily Mail. Associated Newspapers Ltd. Retrieved 22 January 2011. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= and |year= / |date= mismatch (help); Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  21. ^ "Hips scrapped by coalition government". BBC News. 20 May 2010.
  22. ^ "Homelessness".
  23. ^ "David Cameron prepared for backlash over council homes". Thisislondon.co.uk. 5 August 2010. Retrieved 8 September 2012.
  24. ^ "New Homes Bonus". Bbc.co.uk. 12 November 2010. Retrieved 8 September 2012.
  25. ^ Amelia Gentleman. "Housing minister rebuts opposition critics: 'We are not being unfair'". Guardian. Retrieved 8 September 2012.
  26. ^ Wellman, Alex (31 August 2011), "Tenant panel training scheme launched", Inside Housing {{citation}}: Text "Inside Housing" ignored (help)
  27. ^ "Shapps Sharpens the Right To Buy'". Spectator.co.uk. 2 October 2011. Retrieved 8 September 2012.
  28. ^ Chapman, James (15 March 2013). "ain Duncan Smith's fury at the BBC for adopting the language of Labour and calling benefit cut 'bedroom tax'". The Daily Mail. Retrieved 28 May 2013.
  29. ^ Dominiczak, Peter (31 March 2013). "Grant Shapps defends 'bedroom tax' by saying his children share a room". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 28 May 2013.
  30. ^ Boniface, Susan (6 June 2010). "Millionaire Tory minister Grant Shapps makes mockery of 'green government' pledge with private plane ride for public appearance". The Daily Mirror. Retrieved 28 May 2013.
  31. ^ Johnson, Andrew (31 March 2013). "Conservative party chairman Grant Shapps attacked for using his own children in 'bedroom tax' row". The Independent. Retrieved 28 May 2013.
  32. ^ Hetherington, Peter (20 January 2010). "Tories' housing plans to raise the roofs". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 29 April 2010.
  33. ^ Watts, Robert; Oliver, Jonathan; Warren, Georgia (21 June 2009). "Conservative MPs rush to quit second jobs". London: Times Online. Retrieved 29 April 2010.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Welwyn Hatfield
2005–present 		Incumbent
Political offices
Preceded by Minister without portfolio
2012–present
with Kenneth Clarke 		Incumbent
Party political offices
Preceded by Chairman of the Conservative Party
2012–present
with The Lord Feldman of Elstree 		Incumbent

Template:Cabinet Office (United Kingdom)

Template:Current Conservative MPs

Template:Persondata

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Grant_Shapps&oldid=565083778"