GRANT Shapps could be the fresh pair of eyes needed to tackle major issues at the Ministry of Defence, according to Sir Bob Neil MP.
Mr Neil, chairman of the House of Commons justice select committee, told GB News: “Quite often, reshuffles don’t throw up the obvious candidate. Quite often the people who are most talked of don’t get the job for whatever reason.
“I’ve worked with Grant, he was a minister in the department of local government when I was in minister there as well, and certainly as you said, he’s very good on the media and he’s very adaptable.
“He’s bright, he picks up the brief quickly. You’re certainly right, he’s close to the Prime Minister.”
In a discussion with Andrew Pierce and Bev Turner, he continued: “There is an argument maybe sometimes that you need somebody perhaps a bit from outside the defence world to take a step back.
“People can be very experienced in defence but one of the things I think a lot of people have said to me, I’ve never been in the Defence Ministry side, it’s only anecdotal, is that somebody who has more of a business approach, a fresh pair of eyes, can be very valuable sometimes, so maybe that’s part of it.
“I think there’s arguments that go both ways in truth, we’ve had effective defence secretaries who did have a military background of one service or the other. Both Conservative and Labour governments have had effective defence secretaries who weren’t, so it’s a perfectly valid point to make either way.”
Asked about government plans to force criminals to attend court for sentencing, he added: “It’s right to give both the judge and the Prison Service more tools in the toolbox to try and insist that criminals face the music and in particular, so the victim’s families can see the whites of their eyes if you like when they are sentenced, so whenever possible, that ought to be the objective.”
