The Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has announced his bid to become leader of the Conservative party following Boris Johnson’s resignation last week.
“I am a problem solver, with a proven record of delivery,” he said on Twitter on Sunday morning.
“Our country faces huge challenges but with the right leader our best days can still lie ahead.”
He joins seven other candidates who have so far declared their intention to run for the position. Mr Johnson plans to remain as Prime Minister until the new leader is selected.
Today I launch my campaign to be the next leader of the Conservative & Unionist Party and Prime Minister.
— Rt Hon Grant Shapps MP (@grantshapps) July 10, 2022
I am a problem solver, with a proven record of delivery.
Our country faces huge challenges, but with the right leader our best days can still lie ahead. pic.twitter.com/RR2GEcf5o9
Mr Shapps’s campaign has received backing from the Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, George Eustice.
Mr Shapps, 53, was elected as the MP for Welwyn Hatfield in 2005, became vice-chairman of the Conservative party in 2007 and was co-chairman of the party and Minister without Portfolio in David Cameron’s government from 2012 to 2015.
In 2019, he received his current Cabinet post from Mr Johnson.
A former president of the youth movement BBYO, he is a member of Potters Bar and Brookman Park United Synagogue.
In an interview with the JC in 2010 he said it was “absolutely inevitable” that the Palestinians would have to have their own state.
He would be the first Jewish leader of the party since Michael, now Lord Howard, who headed it from 2003 to 2005.
My Cabinet Colleague George Eustice is backing my bid to be the next Prime Minister.
— Rt Hon Grant Shapps MP (@grantshapps) July 10, 2022
Read why 👇 pic.twitter.com/0eYBnotjYC
