Grant Shapps, the Defence Secretary, has lost his seat in an election upset. Shapps, who has held various cabinet positions under four Tory prime ministers, including Energy Security and Net Zero Secretary, Business Secretary, and Home Secretary, was defeated by Labour challenger Andrew Lewin in Welwyn Hatfield.
Shapps, who has been the MP for Welwyn Hatfield since 2005, finished second in the election on 16,078 votes, as opposed to Lewin’s 19,877.
Shapps was Shadow Housing Minister from June 2007 until September 2012. In May 2010 when he became Minister of State for Housing and Local Government within the Communities and Local Government Department after the formation of the Cameron–Clegg coalition. One of his first actions was repealing the Home Information Pack (HIP) legislation.
As Housing Minister, Shapps promoted plans for flexible rent and controversially ended automatic lifetime social tenancies.
He also introduced the New Homes Bonus, which rewarded councils for building more homes.
In September 2012, Shapps was appointed Co-Chairman of the Conservative Party in Cameron’s first major reshuffle.
