Grant Shapps to be Defence Secretary - Private Walker appointed head of Home Guard

[muriel_volestrangler]

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/aug/31/grant-shapps-appointed-as-defence-secretary-reshuffle

James O'Brien said he was "confused and perhaps discombobulated" while reflecting on the "absolute absurdity of a country where somebody who made their fortune, made enough money to allow him to go into politics by selling get-rich-quick schemes on the internet under a variety of false names", could become the Defence Secretary.

Here, one of the names James was referring to was seen in a photo that emerged of the Conservative MP wearing a badge that read "Michael Green".
...
James listed Mr Shapps' previous roles as Secretary of State for Home Affairs, Transport, Business, and Energy, adding these positions were given to him in the space of a calendar year.

"How has this happened?" he asked, praising the outgoing Defence Secretary Ben Wallace for being "the most competent and most credible member" in the last few cabinets.

"How have we ended up with a snake oil salesman as Secretary of State for Defence?" he wondered again.

https://www.lbc.co.uk/radio/presenters/james-obrien/snake-oil-salesman-defence-secretary-grant-shapps/

"changes job more often than he changes his name now, which we can count as progress ..."

Shapps founded a web publishing business, How To Corp Limited, with his wife while he was recovering from cancer.[20] The company marketed business publications and software. The existence of at least three people who allegedly provided testimonials for the company has been questioned.[21] Shapps stood down as a director in July 2008; his wife remained as director until the company was dissolved in 2014.[22]

In September 2012, Google blacklisted 19 of the Shapps' business websites for violating rules on copyright infringement related to the web scraping-based TrafficPayMaster software sold by them.[23][24] Shapps's web marketing business's 20/20 Challenge publication also drew criticism. It cost $497 and promised customers earnings of $20,000 in 20 days. Upon purchase, the "toolkit" was revealed to be an ebook, advising the user to create their own toolkit and recruit 100 "Joint Venture Partners" to resell it for a share of the profits.[25][26]

Shapps's use of the names Michael Green, Corinne Stockheath and Sebastian Fox attracted controversy in 2012. He denied having used a pseudonym after entering parliament and, in 2014, threatened legal action against a constituent who had stated on Facebook that he had. In February 2015, he publicly said: "I don't have a second job and have never had a second job while being an MP. End of story."[27]

However, in March 2015, Shapps admitted to having had a second job while being an MP, and practising business under a pseudonym.[28][29] In his admission, he stated that he had "over-firmly denied" having a second job.[30] In March 2015, Dean Archer, the constituent previously threatened with legal action by Shapps, threatened Shapps with legal action.[31][32]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grant_Shapps#Business_ventures

[LeftishBrit]

1. Not ideal!