OPINION: The minyan of Jews involved in the British War Office since 1924
Historian Derek Taylor on 100 years of Jewish politicians working in key governmental defence roles, from Sir Phillip Sassoon to Grant Shapps.
Grant Shapps makes up the minyan; 10 Jewish MPs who have been involved with the War Office. The first was Sir Phillip Sassoon, Secretary of State for Air from 1924-1929 and 1931-1937. Those were the years when the Royal Air Force was being strengthened until it was just able to win the Battle of Britain.
One of the brightest MPs before the war was Leslie Hore Belisha, the Minister of War from 1937-1940, but he fell out with the Army Generals and, with the support of the Duke of Gloucester, they managed to get Neville Chamberlain to get rid of him.
The top brass in the army were very often old boys from public schools and you would have thought that they would get on better with the Oxford-educated Hore Belisha, than the trade unionist, Manny Shinwell, who was appointed Financial Secretary to the War Office and later Minister of Defence by Clement Attlee.
In fact, Shinwell was popular, though MI5 kept a file on him during the problems with the creation of Israel. Of course, you had to build the planes and the Minister for Aircraft Production from 1942-1945 was George Strauss.
From 1946 to 1948 Lord Nathan was the Minister of Civil Aviation and Stormont Mancroft, the Second Lord Mancroft, was Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Minister of Defence in 1957.
Spencer Baptiste was the parliamentary secretary to the minister of defence procurement until he lost his seat in 1997. He is now also in the Lords.
Malcolm Rifkind was the Conservative Secretary for Defence from 1992-1995 and Ivor Caplan was the Labour Minister for Veterans at the Ministry of Defence until he stood down in 2005.
Which brings us to Grant Shapps.
As an Orthodox Jew, happily married for many years, and a Conservative MP, he is the ideal snob’s victim.
He is not Eton and Balliol, but Watford Grammar School and Manchester Polytechnic. His family, two generations back, were part of East End Jewry fleeing from the pogroms of Eastern Europe. The government passed an Aliens Act in 1905 to stop them coming.
Yet Grant Shapps has been the Minister of Housing and Planning, Housing and Local Government, Minister without Portfolio, International Development, Transport, and Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. He was also chair of the Conservative Party from 2012-2015.
Pausing only to recover from a coma caused by a bad road accident and Hodgkins disease, which is a form of cancer, he has triumphantly survived everything that life could throw at him.
One major reason could be that the leader can rely on Grant Shapps. When there is a gap in the organisation, Grant Shapps is always available to carry the can until permanent arrangements can be made. If you can’t do it yourself, send Grant Shapps. Like a trip to the Ukraine instead of Rishi Sunak.
Such support is a vital aspect of a successful leadership.
As Mr. Twimble, in charge of the post room, sang about his devotion to the company policy, in that great musical, ‘How to Succeed In Business’, “Whoever the company fires, I will still be there.”
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