Grant Shapps: New home secretary refused to be dragged into attacking trans rights during leadership race
Grant Shapps. (Wiktor Szymanowicz/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Grant Shapps has been named home secretary after Suella Braverman resigned.
Braverman quit after breaking security rules by sending an official document using her personal email. She took a parting shot at Liz Truss, saying she has concerns about the government’s direction, and that people who make mistakes should resign.
Replacing her is former transport secretary Grant Shapps.
Shapps was fired from his previous role when Truss took office – he had run against her in the leadership race, backing Rishi Sunak after his departure from it.
During the race, Shapps struck a notably different tone to his fellow candidates when it came to LGBTQ+ rights.
Attacking trans rights was a favoured tactic of many candidates, Braverman chief among them, to try and win favour, and inane questions on what defines a woman were put to every candidate during the race.
After he announced his run, Sky News‘ Sophy Ridge asked Grant Shapps: “Are trans men men and are trans women women?
Shapps replied: “First of all I should say if there’s a Shapps administration where I’m prime minister, I will not be spending most of my time on these kinds of issues.
“I think we owe everybody love and respect. People should be able to get on and live their lives. There’s clearly a biological basis on your birth but if people want to … transition gender, that is their choice and they will always have my support for me.
“I think the country is far more interested in things like the cost of living, the bread and butter issues, jobs and the rest of it.”
