Truss Takes Enemy Into Heart of Government Amid UK Chaos

(Bloomberg) -- By appointing Grant Shapps as home secretary, embattled UK Prime Minister Liz Truss has brought one of her political enemies into the fold.

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Shapps, who backed Truss’s rival Rishi Sunak in the recent Conservative leadership contest, was openly working against her at the Conservative Party’s annual conference this month. Only this week on “The Political Party” podcast, he said the premier had an 80% chance of failure.

The move smacks of desperation and illustrates how Truss is struggling to save her premiership, promoting figures from across the Tory party in a bid to appease her mutinous MPs. Last week, Truss appointed centrist Jeremy Hunt as her new finance minister to replace her longtime ally, Kwasi Kwarteng.

Shapps, 54, was one of the most prominent critics of the aborted Truss-Kwarteng economic plan, which spooked financial markets and triggered a political crisis. At the time, Shapps described it as “politically tin-eared” and wrote: “Tory governments aren’t supposed to do this kind of thing.”

Read More: Truss’s Enemies Worked the Tory Members as She Huddled in Crisis

A former transport secretary under Boris Johnson, Shapps is one of the more senior figures in the Conservative Party. He was sacked by Truss when she took office because of his support for Sunak -- even though she told him he was one of the best communicators in government.

The Shapps appointment came after Truss fired Suella Braverman for what officials described as a security breach. Braverman is a darling of the Tory right who is well-liked by the party’s pro-Brexit, Euroskeptic wing.

“Obviously it’s been a turbulent time for the government,” Shapps told broadcasters after his appointment. “I’m looking forward to getting stuck into the role, regardless of what’s happening otherwise in Westminster.”

(Updates with more details from first paragraph)

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