The former defence secretary also reveals what he told Rishi Sunak when the ex-PM announced he was calling a general election
Grant Shapps was long seen as one of the Tories’ sparkiest media performers, despite controversy over his past business career, in which he is said to have used multiple aliases has the stories you need to understand how she could do it according to party insiders, experts and commentators.
“We went around the room and everyone else was all, ‘Prime Minister, fortune favours the brave, great move, you’ve changed the weather, etc,'” Shapps says. “And it just got to me, and I said, ‘I genuinely think I’ve seen this movie and I’m afraid to tell you it doesn’t end well.'” Instead, Shapps chaired the leadership campaign of James Cleverly, then remained neutral after his chosen candidate was eliminated before the final two. He now claims to be– and is adamant that she has a real shot at winning the next general election, likely to take place in 2028 or 2029.
He is adamant that retreating to the “comfort zone” of the Tory core vote would be a drastic mistake – comparable to the strategy taken by Jeremy Corbyn during his ill-fated leadership of Labour. Shapps points out that the last time the Conservatives were ejected from office, in 1997, it took 13 years to return to power – adding: “You get very deeply into making your own side feel comfortable and forget that actually winning the country is the prize, not how happy the party is with itself.
And he refuses to rule out a parliamentary comeback of his own, amid rumours that he could seek a return to the Commons in a by-election or at the next general election.
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