Grant Shapps, the newly appointed British Secretary of State for Defence, does not know how many ranks there are in the nation’s armed forces, requiring a news presenter to inform him on live television.
Shapps appeared on the Rupert Murdoch-owned Sky News on Wednesday morning, where he was asked by the presenter: “so here’s a question for you: do you know how many ranks there are in the [British] army?”
“Not off the top of my head,” Shapps responded before going on to suggest that it’s somehow uncommon for serving British Defense Ministers to have knowledge about their position: “It’s not usual in democracy where we actually pride ourselves on having civilians run all elements of government, including our military, to have people from military backgrounds.”
The presenter was forced to tell him the number was 12.
Shapps, elected to the British parliament as a “Tory modernizer,” first came to national attention after hiding the fact he used several pseudonyms to sell dodgy computer software while working as a Member of Parliament in the early 2010s.
#KayBurley – There's been a lot of criticism that you got your job because it's a job for the boys, as opposed to knowing anything about the Ministry of Defence… do you know how many ranks there are in the army?
Grant Shapps – Not off the top of my head… pic.twitter.com/lz80t0d4kd
— Haggis_UK 🇬🇧 🇪🇺 (@Haggis_UK) September 6, 2023