Grant Shapps was appointed interior minister late Wednesday by U.K. Prime Minister Liz Truss after she suffered the second high-profile ministerial loss of her six-week prime ministry.
A statement by Truss's 10 Downing Street office confirmed the appointment hours after Suella Braverman had resigned from the post after using her personal email to send an official document.
Transport secretary under former-Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Grant Shapps had thrown his hat into the ring to replace his old boss during the summer.
The 54-year-old, famed for his use of Excel spreadsheets – which he reportedly put to good use at the Conservatives' recent annual conference to show colleagues how Truss could be toppled – promised tax cuts and competent government and was widely seen as an effective communicator and campaigner, although a long shot as Conservative leader.
One of the first things he has done is to praise Jeremy Hunt on Wednesday, saying that while the government was having a difficult time, the country's new finance minister, Hunt, was doing a great job.
Shapps pledged to work to achieve "the sort of security that the British people need."
Truss, who initially built a Cabinet of ministers loyal to her, has lost two of her most senior ministers in less than a week. They were replaced by Hunt and Shapps who did not vote for her in the leadership race.
"Look, I accept that the government has obviously had a very difficult period," Shapps told reporters. "Jeremy Hunt, I think has done a great job of settling the issues relating to that mini-budget."
Meanwhile, Conservative deputy Wendy Morton, who is the member of the government responsible for enforcing party discipline, was reported to have resigned, the Sun reported on Wednesday.
The dysfunction deepened late Wednesday with angry scenes in the House of Commons, as Truss played hardball with her own party's deputies over her bid to resume fracking – drilling onshore for gas.
Her chief whip and deputy chief whip – charged with enforcing party discipline – were both reported to have quit in protest at an abrupt change in government tactics over the vote, which Truss eventually won.
Downing Street was forced to issue an unusual statement to insist that the two whips "remain in post."
Truss's office said, "Chief and deputy chief whip remain in post," referring to Morton and her colleague Craig Whittaker, after reports they had left government during a chaotic evening of quarreling in Parliament over the vote on fracking.
Shapps attracted controversy earlier in his career, however, over the use of the pseudonyms "Michael Green," "Corinne Stockheath" and "Sebastian Fox."
He denied it at the time, but in 2015 admitted to having done business under a pseudonym while a member of parliament.
