A close ally of Transport Secretary Grant Shapps last night called him a “great choice” for prime minister as the Conservative Party leadership race gets underway.
Speaking to BBC Newsnight, Robert Courts, a minister in Shapps’ department, endorsed him for the party leadership, saying that his experience in office and his campaigning ability mean that he would do an “outstanding job”.
Shapps, who is Jewish, has not yet said publicly whether he will be standing for the party leadership, but he is widely thought to be one of over ten candidates expected to declare in the coming days.
Robert Courts, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport since 2020, told Kirsty Wark Newsnight on Thursday that, due to the number of issues currently facing the UK, his boss would be the right choice for prime minister.
He said: “I think we need someone, because of the challenges that the country has, because of the fact that we’re still pulling out of the pandemic, because of all the cost of living issues that you’ve quite rightly referred to, I think we need someone who’s got experience, I think we need someone who is able to campaign, I think we need someone who’s able to deliver, so someone like Grant Shapps would be a great choice.”
“I’ve seen him working at close quarters and I know he’d do an outstanding job,” he added.
Courts also suggested that the current Defence Secretary, Ben Wallace, would be a good choice because he as “a lot of experience”.
Shapps was not among the over 50 ministers who resigned from government as Boris Johnson’s premiership came crashing down over the last week in the wake of another scandal, this time around the alleged behaviour of Deputy Chief Whip, Chris Pincher.
The Transport Secretary was spotted walking into Downing Street on Wednesday night looking “stony-faced”, and was reportedly among a number of Johnson’s closest Cabinet colleagues telling him that it was time to resign.
Shapps, the most senior Jewish politician in the cabinet, had long been one of Johnsons' staunchest allies and was a frequent fixture on news channels defending government decisions.
During his resignation speech delivered outside Number 10 Downing Street on Thursday, Boris Johnson labelled his colleagues’ decision to remove him “eccentric”.
“In the last few days, I have tried to persuade my colleagues that it would be eccentric to change Governments when we are delivering so much and when we have such a vast mandate and when we are actually only a handful of points behind in the polls,” he said.
“As we’ve seen at Westminster, the herd instinct is powerful, and when the herd moves, it moves.”
Boris Johnson will remain in place as caretaker prime minister until the Conservative Party chooses a new leader – a process expected to last until early September.
Other candidates for the leadership include Attorney General Suella Braverman, who declared on Wednesday, as well as Tom Tugendhat, who declared on Thursday night.
Other likely candidates include former Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak, Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace, and former Health Secretary Sajid Javid.
