{"id":65043,"date":"2023-08-31T15:34:33","date_gmt":"2023-08-31T15:34:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2023\/08\/31\/britain-has-a-new-defense-secretary-what-are-experts-saying\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T00:55:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T00:55:13","slug":"britain-has-a-new-defense-secretary-what-are-experts-saying","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/global\/europe\/2023\/08\/31\/britain-has-a-new-defense-secretary-what-are-experts-saying\/","title":{"rendered":"Britain has a new defense secretary. What are experts saying?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">LONDON \u2014 Britain\u2019s has a new defense secretary. The surprise choice for the role, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/global\/europe\/2023\/07\/16\/british-defense-minister-to-step-down-this-year\/\" target=\"_blank\">vacated by Ben Wallace<\/a>, is Energy Secretary Grant Shapps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The appointment follows Wallace\u2019s announcement earlier this summer that he would stand down after more than four years in the post. He formerly vacated his position Aug. 31 with a letter to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, carrying a veiled warning against cuts in defense spending.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI know you agree with me that we must not return to the days where defence was viewed as a discretionary spend by Government and savings were achieved by hollowing out,\u201d he wrote. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This will be Shapps\u2019 fifth senior Cabinet position in a year. As one of Britain\u2019s most experienced ministers, Shapps has held numerous senior positions across government, but nothing involving defense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Treasury Secretary John Glen was widely tipped as Wallace\u2019s replacement, as was former Defence Secretary Liam Fox, who departed the Defence Ministry in 2011.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Some analysts and politicians have expressed concern about Shapps, arguing he lacks direct knowledge of the complex geopolitical, military and industrial issues critical to the job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThere is no other way of saying this: Shapps is a bad choice in my view and a potential disaster for U.K. defense, and may well go down as \u2014 of all the decisions the current prime minister, Rishi Sunak, has so far made \u2014 the worst by a very long mark,\u201d said Howard Wheeldon of the consultancy Wheeldon Strategic Advisory. \u201cNot for the first time, a U.K. prime minister has seemingly appointed a Cabinet minister who will do as he is told.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Speaking on BBC Radio 4 on Thursday, political journalist Rachel Cunliffe of the New Statesman magazine said the appointment made some sense. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cHe is a canny political operator, and he has served under four of the last five conservative prime minister[s]. He is a great survivor. Rishi Sunak has clearly made the decision that he wants someone in that post that he can trust and an ally in his Cabinet, and Grant Shapps fits the bill,\u201d she said.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Labour Party\u2019s shadow defense secretary, John Healey, congratulated Shapps on his appointment but said a new defense secretary would not change the Conservative Party\u2019s record on defense. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAfter 13 years of Tory defense failings, a change at the top will not change this record. On further cuts to the Army, growing concerns over the U.K.\u2019s NATO commitments and billions of pounds being wasted through defense procurement, the defence secretary has serious questions to deal with in the days ahead,\u201d Healey said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ben Barry, a senior fellow for land warfare at the International Institute for Strategic Studies think tank in London, said Wallace will be a tough act to follow.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cHe\u2019s been a good defense secretary, getting many tough judgement calls right and securing much-needed additional funds for defense, but not all the previous hollowing out has been reversed, and his successor faces significant challenges,\u201d Barry explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThere is unfinished business to attend to for Wallace\u2019s successor. He will need to work on the poor procurement process and growth in equipment costs. If it\u2019s true that the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/land\/2023\/06\/15\/britains-ajax-program-involved-systemic-and-institutional-failures\/\" target=\"_blank\">Ajax [armored vehicle] project<\/a> is on track, this will be welcomed, but <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/global\/europe\/2021\/03\/16\/more-nukes-and-a-regional-pivot-britain-unveils-its-long-awaited-defense-review\/\" target=\"_blank\">new nuclear capabilities<\/a> appear to have apparently unconstrained growth in costs. Declaring which U.K. forces will be assigned to NATO is also now overdue,\u201d Barry added. \u201cThe Ukraine war has exposed the considerable hollowing-out of both combat capability and stockpiles. While some money has been allocated to reverse this, it\u2019s not clear whether that will be sufficient.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Jon Louth , an independent analyst, said he didn\u2019t expect Shapps to be involved much in shaping the country\u2019s defense sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI don\u2019t think we will hear a great deal from him in relation to defense. He\u2019s more a front-line, general political performer rather than a sharp, focused, details man. His value is his communications skills \u2014 able to talk for the government as we go into the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.parliament.uk\/about\/how\/elections-and-voting\/general\/\" target=\"_blank\">next election<\/a>,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The surprise choice for the role, vacated by Ben Wallace, is Energy Secretary Grant Shapps.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":117775,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":46,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[160,46,11,36],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3351],"class_list":["post-65043","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-europe","category-global","category-newsletters"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"2XQJV3G45FEJNBIYAK4Z66IQC4","arc_canonical_url":"\/global\/europe\/2023\/08\/31\/britain-has-a-new-defense-secretary-what-are-experts-saying\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Britain has a new defense secretary. What are experts saying? - Defense News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The surprise choice for the role, vacated by Ben Wallace, is Energy Secretary Grant Shapps.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Britain has a new defense secretary. What are experts saying?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The surprise choice for the role, vacated by Ben Wallace, is Energy Secretary Grant Shapps.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/global\/europe\/2023\/08\/31\/britain-has-a-new-defense-secretary-what-are-experts-saying\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Defense News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-08-31T15:34:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-08T00:55:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Andrew Chuter\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Andrew Chuter\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\n\t    \"@context\": \"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\n\t    \"@graph\": [\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"Article\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/global\\\/europe\\\/2023\\\/08\\\/31\\\/britain-has-a-new-defense-secretary-what-are-experts-saying\\\/#article\",\n\t            \"isPartOf\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/global\\\/europe\\\/2023\\\/08\\\/31\\\/britain-has-a-new-defense-secretary-what-are-experts-saying\\\/\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"author\": {\n\t                \"name\": \"migration\",\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cc76c831bb37a926738c8391fca7a3b1\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"headline\": \"Britain has a new defense secretary. What are experts saying?\",\n\t            \"datePublished\": \"2023-08-31T15:34:33+00:00\",\n\t            \"dateModified\": \"2026-08-08T00:55:13+00:00\",\n\t            \"mainEntityOfPage\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/global\\\/europe\\\/2023\\\/08\\\/31\\\/britain-has-a-new-defense-secretary-what-are-experts-saying\\\/\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"wordCount\": 681,\n\t            \"commentCount\": 0,\n\t            \"publisher\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#organization\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"image\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/global\\\/europe\\\/2023\\\/08\\\/31\\\/britain-has-a-new-defense-secretary-what-are-experts-saying\\\/#primaryimage\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"thumbnailUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/GettyImages-1636252007.jpg.jpg\",\n\t            \"articleSection\": [\n\t                \"Daily News Roundup\",\n\t                \"Europe\",\n\t                \"Global\",\n\t                \"Newsletters\"\n\t            ],\n\t            \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t            \"potentialAction\": [\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"CommentAction\",\n\t                    \"name\": \"Comment\",\n\t                    \"target\": [\n\t                        \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/global\\\/europe\\\/2023\\\/08\\\/31\\\/britain-has-a-new-defense-secretary-what-are-experts-saying\\\/#respond\"\n\t                    ]\n\t                }\n\t            ]\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"WebPage\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/global\\\/europe\\\/2023\\\/08\\\/31\\\/britain-has-a-new-defense-secretary-what-are-experts-saying\\\/\",\n\t            \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/global\\\/europe\\\/2023\\\/08\\\/31\\\/britain-has-a-new-defense-secretary-what-are-experts-saying\\\/\",\n\t            \"name\": \"Britain has a new defense secretary. What are experts saying? - Defense News\",\n\t            \"isPartOf\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#website\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"primaryImageOfPage\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/global\\\/europe\\\/2023\\\/08\\\/31\\\/britain-has-a-new-defense-secretary-what-are-experts-saying\\\/#primaryimage\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"image\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/global\\\/europe\\\/2023\\\/08\\\/31\\\/britain-has-a-new-defense-secretary-what-are-experts-saying\\\/#primaryimage\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"thumbnailUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/GettyImages-1636252007.jpg.jpg\",\n\t            \"datePublished\": \"2023-08-31T15:34:33+00:00\",\n\t            \"dateModified\": \"2026-08-08T00:55:13+00:00\",\n\t            \"description\": \"The surprise choice for the role, vacated by Ben Wallace, is Energy Secretary Grant Shapps.\",\n\t            \"breadcrumb\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/global\\\/europe\\\/2023\\\/08\\\/31\\\/britain-has-a-new-defense-secretary-what-are-experts-saying\\\/#breadcrumb\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t            \"potentialAction\": [\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"ReadAction\",\n\t                    \"target\": [\n\t                        \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/global\\\/europe\\\/2023\\\/08\\\/31\\\/britain-has-a-new-defense-secretary-what-are-experts-saying\\\/\"\n\t                    ]\n\t                }\n\t            ]\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"ImageObject\",\n\t            \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/global\\\/europe\\\/2023\\\/08\\\/31\\\/britain-has-a-new-defense-secretary-what-are-experts-saying\\\/#primaryimage\",\n\t            \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/GettyImages-1636252007.jpg.jpg\",\n\t            \"contentUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/GettyImages-1636252007.jpg.jpg\"\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"BreadcrumbList\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/global\\\/europe\\\/2023\\\/08\\\/31\\\/britain-has-a-new-defense-secretary-what-are-experts-saying\\\/#breadcrumb\",\n\t            \"itemListElement\": [\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"ListItem\",\n\t                    \"position\": 1,\n\t                    \"name\": \"Home\",\n\t                    \"item\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/\",\n\t                    \"ad_zone\": \"home\"\n\t                },\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"ListItem\",\n\t                    \"position\": 2,\n\t                    \"name\": \"Global\",\n\t                    \"item\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/global\\\/\",\n\t                    \"ad_zone\": \"global\"\n\t                },\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"ListItem\",\n\t                    \"position\": 3,\n\t                    \"name\": \"Europe\",\n\t                    \"item\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/global\\\/europe\\\/\",\n\t                    \"ad_zone\": \"europe\"\n\t                },\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"ListItem\",\n\t                    \"position\": 4,\n\t                    \"name\": \"Britain has a new defense secretary. What are experts saying?\"\n\t                }\n\t            ]\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"WebSite\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#website\",\n\t            \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/\",\n\t            \"name\": \"Defense News\",\n\t            \"description\": \"Covering the politics, business and technology of defense | Defense News\",\n\t            \"publisher\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#organization\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"potentialAction\": [\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"SearchAction\",\n\t                    \"target\": {\n\t                        \"@type\": \"EntryPoint\",\n\t                        \"urlTemplate\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"\n\t                    },\n\t                    \"query-input\": {\n\t                        \"@type\": \"PropertyValueSpecification\",\n\t                        \"valueRequired\": true,\n\t                        \"valueName\": \"search_term_string\"\n\t                    }\n\t                }\n\t            ],\n\t            \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\"\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"Organization\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#organization\",\n\t            \"name\": \"Defense News\",\n\t            \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/\",\n\t            \"logo\": {\n\t                \"@type\": \"ImageObject\",\n\t                \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\n\t                \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/defensenews-logo-white.png\",\n\t                \"contentUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/defensenews-logo-white.png\",\n\t                \"caption\": \"Defense News\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"image\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"\n\t            }\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"Person\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cc76c831bb37a926738c8391fca7a3b1\",\n\t            \"name\": \"migration\",\n\t            \"image\": {\n\t                \"@type\": \"ImageObject\",\n\t                \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=gcf4cb6ee0ec29e49e7a963234e4340ec\",\n\t                \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\n\t                \"contentUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\n\t                \"caption\": \"migration\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/defensenews\\\/author\\\/migration\\\/\"\n\t        }\n\t    ]\n\t}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Britain has a new defense secretary. What are experts saying? - Defense News","description":"The surprise choice for the role, vacated by Ben Wallace, is Energy Secretary Grant Shapps.","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Britain has a new defense secretary. What are experts saying?","og_description":"The surprise choice for the role, vacated by Ben Wallace, is Energy Secretary Grant Shapps.","og_url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/global\/europe\/2023\/08\/31\/britain-has-a-new-defense-secretary-what-are-experts-saying\/","og_site_name":"Defense News","article_published_time":"2023-08-31T15:34:33+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-08-08T00:55:13+00:00","author":"Andrew Chuter","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Andrew Chuter","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/global\/europe\/2023\/08\/31\/britain-has-a-new-defense-secretary-what-are-experts-saying\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/global\/europe\/2023\/08\/31\/britain-has-a-new-defense-secretary-what-are-experts-saying\/"},"author":{"name":"migration","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#\/schema\/person\/cc76c831bb37a926738c8391fca7a3b1"},"headline":"Britain has a new defense secretary. What are experts saying?","datePublished":"2023-08-31T15:34:33+00:00","dateModified":"2026-08-08T00:55:13+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/global\/europe\/2023\/08\/31\/britain-has-a-new-defense-secretary-what-are-experts-saying\/"},"wordCount":681,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/global\/europe\/2023\/08\/31\/britain-has-a-new-defense-secretary-what-are-experts-saying\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GettyImages-1636252007.jpg.jpg","articleSection":["Daily News Roundup","Europe","Global","Newsletters"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/global\/europe\/2023\/08\/31\/britain-has-a-new-defense-secretary-what-are-experts-saying\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/global\/europe\/2023\/08\/31\/britain-has-a-new-defense-secretary-what-are-experts-saying\/","url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/global\/europe\/2023\/08\/31\/britain-has-a-new-defense-secretary-what-are-experts-saying\/","name":"Britain has a new defense secretary. What are experts saying? - Defense News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/global\/europe\/2023\/08\/31\/britain-has-a-new-defense-secretary-what-are-experts-saying\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/global\/europe\/2023\/08\/31\/britain-has-a-new-defense-secretary-what-are-experts-saying\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GettyImages-1636252007.jpg.jpg","datePublished":"2023-08-31T15:34:33+00:00","dateModified":"2026-08-08T00:55:13+00:00","description":"The surprise choice for the role, vacated by Ben Wallace, is Energy Secretary Grant Shapps.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/global\/europe\/2023\/08\/31\/britain-has-a-new-defense-secretary-what-are-experts-saying\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/global\/europe\/2023\/08\/31\/britain-has-a-new-defense-secretary-what-are-experts-saying\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/global\/europe\/2023\/08\/31\/britain-has-a-new-defense-secretary-what-are-experts-saying\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GettyImages-1636252007.jpg.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GettyImages-1636252007.jpg.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/global\/europe\/2023\/08\/31\/britain-has-a-new-defense-secretary-what-are-experts-saying\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/","ad_zone":"home"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Global","item":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/global\/","ad_zone":"global"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Europe","item":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/global\/europe\/","ad_zone":"europe"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"Britain has a new defense secretary. What are experts saying?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#website","url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/","name":"Defense News","description":"Covering the politics, business and technology of defense | Defense News","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#organization","name":"Defense News","url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/defensenews-logo-white.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/defensenews-logo-white.png","caption":"Defense News"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/#\/schema\/person\/cc76c831bb37a926738c8391fca7a3b1","name":"migration","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=gcf4cb6ee0ec29e49e7a963234e4340ec","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"migration"},"url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/author\/migration\/"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"Defense News","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews","push-errors":false,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GettyImages-1636252007.jpg.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65043","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65043"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65043\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":65047,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65043\/revisions\/65047"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65043"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=65043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}