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Grant Shapps sacked from Cabinet and demoted to junior ministerial role

He has been sacked as Conservative party chairman and appointed to a junior ministerial position, with David Cameron's close friend replacing him

Matt Dathan
Tuesday 12 May 2015 10:37 BST
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(Getty Images)

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Grant Shapps has suffered a humiliating demotion after being removed as the Conservative party’s co-chairman and handed a junior ministerial role in the Department for International Development under Justine Greening.

David Cameron replaced him with his close friend and friend from Oxford University Lord Feldman, who previously served as co-chairman alongside Mr Shapps.

Mr Shapps has courted controversy during his time as Tory party chairman, a vitally important role in the run up to an election as he was in charge of the party machine across the UK.

Just before the election campaign he was accused of editing the Wikipedia pages of his Conservative rivals and allegedly changed his own page to delete embarrassing references to his past.

Mr Shapps categorically denied he had any involvement in editing the pages and said he was writing to Wikipedia over the fact that one anonymous editor was being reported as "speaking as if it's Wikipedia itself" and "being somebody who is with authority".

He was also forced to admit he had "screwed up" over his denial that he held a second job posing as his multi-millionaire pseudonym Michael Green while also an MP in 2006.

The day of the 2014 Budget he sparked a backlash after he attempted to celebrate cuts in tax on beer and bingo to help “hardworking people do more of the things they enjoy”.

Mr Shapps tweeted a poster with that message under the headline “ Bingo!” written in colourful bubbles, urging people to “spread the word”.

However it sparked a series of parodies, while Labour tweeted “ Dear Tories - what else do you think ‘they’ do that you don't?” followed by “Out. Of. Touch”.

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