Grant Shapps: great political survivor and reliable Tory attack dog

Grant Shapps has often been sent out at the last minute to defend sticky situations the government has found itself in. Photograph: Daniel Leal/AFP/Getty Images

Grant Shapps has proved a vital problem solver to Conservative leaders he has served under, and a feared troublemaker to those who left him out in the cold.

A versatile minister, he was privately described by Liz Truss as “one of the most competent secretaries of state” and “probably the best communicator in government”. But when he was not included in her cabinet when she became prime minister, Shapps helped bring Truss down. He was behind a similar putsch during Theresa May’s premiership.