Grant Shapps replaces Suella Braverman as home secretary
- Published
WATCH: I'm only 10 minutes into the job - Grant Shapps
Grant Shapps has replaced Suella Braverman as home secretary, six weeks after being fired as transport secretary by Liz Truss.
Ms Braverman quit on Wednesday over two data breaches, but also attacked the government's direction on migration.
Her departure was followed by further chaos, as confusion over a vote on fracking led to angry scenes in the Commons.
Labour said the government was "falling apart at the seams".
Opposition MPs alleged some Tories were bullied and manhandled into voting with the government during the fracking vote.
A minister denied the claim, but many Tory MPs ended the day feeling angry and let down by their own party.
Mr Shapps, a figure on the centre-right of the party, has previously criticised Ms Truss for her plans, since abandoned, to drop the top rate of income tax.
A veteran of successive Tory cabinets, he has also said he was fired by Ms Truss when she became PM because he had supported her rival Rishi Sunak in the Tory leadership contest.
Last month, he told a podcast that the prime minister had a "Mount Everest to climb" to remain in power.
His appointment will be seen as a sign that Ms Truss is now seeking to reach out to Sunak supporters in a bid to shore up her precarious position.
'Serious concerns'
In her resignation letter, Ms Braverman said she had made a "technical infringement" of the rules by sending an official document from a personal email and was now taking responsibility.
"I have made a mistake; I accept responsibility; I resign," she told the PM in her letter, in a thinly veiled dig at Ms Truss.
However, she also said she had "serious concerns about this government's commitment to honouring manifesto commitments, such as reducing overall migration numbers and stopping illegal migration, particularly the dangerous small boats crossings."
There have been reports that Ms Braverman had been at odds with Ms Truss over plans to relax immigration rules in a bid to boost economic growth.
WATCH: 'This is utter chaos' - Labour's Yvette Cooper
Speaking as he arrived at the Home Office to start work on Wednesday, Mr Shapps said it was a "great honour" to be home secretary and praised the work of Chancellor Jeremy Hunt but didn't mention the prime minister.
He acknowledged it was a "turbulent time for the government" but added that he was "looking forward to getting stuck into the role… regardless of what is happening in Westminster".
Ms Braverman is the second minister to leave government during Ms Truss's premiership, after Kwasi Kwarteng stepped down as chancellor last week.
Her departure adds further chaos to the week for the prime minister, at a time when Downing Street was desperate to show unity and stability in government.
Ms Braverman was firmly on the right of the party, and her resignation may well trigger further upset from some of her political allies, such as those MPs who backed her to be the Tory leader.
She becomes the shortest serving home secretary since World War Two, having been in the job for only 43 days.
Responding to her resignation, Labour's shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said the government was "falling apart", adding: "To appoint and then sack both your home secretary and chancellor within six weeks is utter chaos."
The SNP leader Westminster Ian Blackford said the government had "no vision other than a desperate and undying desire to stay in office".
Liberal Democrat MP Alistair Carmichael said: "The only solution now is a general election so the public can get off this carousel of Conservative chaos."