
Grant Shapps under fire for bizarre videos and ‘zero interest’ in railways | Rail industry | The Guardian
Gwyn Topham
He’s the unflappable frontman and loyal defender of the errant “big dog” in Downing Street. Through the lens of Conservative politics, the transport secretary Grant Shapps is on a winning streak.
But as crisis looms in a key part of his day job – running the railways – a series of bizarre interventions have raised eyebrows and hackles. Just what, the industry is wondering, is going on with Shapps and the Department for Transport?
While the pace of promised reform and investment has been slow, Shapps has promoted personal wheezes that parts of the railway industry believe are, at best, misguided, and smack of YouTubing while Rome burns.