Grant Shapps Says He Voted For Brexit Despite Previously Claiming He Backed Remain

Grant Shapps has claimed that he voted for Brexit - despite repeatedly insisting previously that he had backed Remain.

The energy secretary made the surprise revelation on Sky News’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday programme this morning.

He said: “I happened to vote for Brexit as it happens, but I actually do think it’s working in favour for this country.”

But Twitter users were quick to point out that this flew in the face of what he said before and after the 2016 referendum.

Speaking before the country voted, Shapps told Sky News: “In the end I have come to the conclusion that because of concerns about the uncertainty of leaving, what it would mean for business, I will vote for Remain.”

Writing for the Brexit Central website six months after the referendum, Shapps said: “At the back of my mind as I voted to Remain on 23rd June, was the thought that divorce can be one of the most stressful things in life.

“I knew the pain of an EU divorce was never going to be comfortable. While the decision was a hugely difficult one, my view was that the short-term uncertainty of a member state leaving the EU would be bad for business.”

He even tweeted in 2018 about how he had voted for Remain two years previously.

A Labour source described Shapps - who previously called himself Michael Green as part of a web marketing venture - as “a total spiv”.

Elsewhere on his round of broadcast interviews this morning, Shapps wrongly claimed that Gordon Brown had issued a resignation honours list - forcing the BBC to issue a correction.

He also further stoked the ongoing Tory civil war by saying the “world has moved on” from Boris Johnson, who is currently embroiled in a fresh row with Rishi Sunak.