The Rt Hon Anne-Marie Trevelyan MP has been appointed by the new Prime Minister Liz Truss to a Cabinet position as Secretary of State for Transport. She was first elected as Member of Parliament (MP) for the Berwick-upon-Tweed constituency at the 2015 general election.  Previously she was Secretary of State for International Development.

 

We wish her all the best with her new position.  

With the sad passing of Her Majesty The Queen there is the inevitable delay in confirming positions of Minister of State for Aviation, Ports/Shipping, Railways and Roads. Robert Courts, a highly visible Aviation Minister is still on the Department for Transport (DfT) masthead.  Kevin Foster, former Home Office Minister, has been given a role at the Department for Transport but the MP for Torbay’s responsibilities have not yet been detailed.

A Boris Johnson supporter, the outgoing Minister Grant Shapps has in effect been sacked by the Prime Minister in a purge of Cabinet members who did not support her in the Conservative Party membership leader election.  He returns to the back benches as the MP for Welwyn and Hatfield, a local constituency MP.  Shapps, Chairman of the Conservative Party during the David Cameron premiership, proved a safe pair of hands particularly during the pandemic when he did his duty as a regular government spokesman for the morning media outlets, able to deftly deal with all manner of questions.  

In transport Shapps (2019–2022) followed Chris Grayling (2016–2019) and Sir Patrick McLoughlin (2012–16), the current Chairman of Airlines UK, all with a real interest in every form of transport, and the short-lived Justine Greening (2011–2012).

Shapps believed very much in collective Cabinet policy and we are not likely to know for some time whether he was able to influence the PM or Treasury on direct support for the aviation and travel industries over the period of the pandemic.  

Whilst having a great interest in all forms of travel, as a licensed private pilot, commuter from Brookmans Park, and keen cyclist, his policy was for the specialist Ministers, such as Robert Courts in air travel, to act as a government spokesman.  His one major strategy decision was the Williams-Shapps Review to move from a rail franchise system to concessionary Great British Railways public body (from 2023).  This whole scheme, including the relocation from London, could easily be dismantled by the incoming government.  He did make it clear of his distrust of motorway refuge areas on ‘smart motorways’, the system planned before his tenure as minister.

Prior to his Transport post Grant Shapps was very active in promoting the All-Party Parliamentary Group on General Aviation, one of the most active back bench working committees which has effectively resulted in the General Aviation Roadmap published by government last year.