Why is Grant Shapps replacing Suella Braverman?

Grant Shapps is the new Home Secretary. This takes the government into strange territory, to put it mildly. Shapps was openly campaigning against Liz Truss as Prime Minister just days ago, boasting happily about the spreadsheet he had set up with hundreds of data points about where Tory MPs stood on her leadership, and saying she had ten days to get her premiership back on track. It is quite hard to see how the time that has elapsed since he made that challenge has seen the Prime Minister meet it.

Braverman was notionally loyal to Truss, but hardly helpful: she caused trouble by talking about there being a ‘coup’ against the Prime Minister; campaigned openly against relaxing immigration rules, even for workers who were clearly needed; and was considered by Tory MPs to be running a leadership bid from within the cabinet. Shapps has not even been notionally loyal to Truss, suggesting that support for the Prime Minister is of little importance when booking a ministerial job now. What is more consequential is whether a minister is amenable to instructions from Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, underlining his status as de facto prime minister.

Shapps was busy over the weekend on another spreadsheet: one masterminding his successful campaign to become the chair of the all-party parliamentary group on Ukraine, beating rival Bob Seeley. Shapps is known for being collegiate and helpful to leaders – presumably Hunt being the relevant leader in his mind, not Truss. He is also popular among Tory MPs, but not wholly trusted. Mind you, the Prime Minister isn’t either of those things right now.