Grant Shapps has confused the Royal Air Force and Royal Navy less than two weeks into his new role as defence secretary.
Appearing on LBC, Shapps told Nick Ferrari that the UK’s aircraft carriers are “the largest carriers the RAF has ever had.”
Seemingly unbeknown to the defence secretary, aircraft carriers are actually constructed and operated by the Royal Navy.
This latest misstep comes just hours after Shapps was left red-faced on Sky News for failing to list the number of ranks in the Army.
The former energy security and net zero minister replaced Ben Wallace who announced his resignation last week.
Wallace, Mr Shapps’ predecessor and a former Army officer, played a crucial role in generating international support to arm the Ukrainian military following Russia’s invasion.
In his resignation letter, he warned that “over the next decade, the world will get more insecure and unstable.”
This is the fifth cabinet post to be held by Shapps in a year – having served as transport secretary under Boris Johnson, home secretary for six days under Liz Truss, and as business secretary before his most recent appointment as energy secretary.
The former transport secretary has had to defend his appointment following questions over the depth of his military knowledge and accusations that he was selected purely because of his loyalty to Rishi Sunak.
On whether he knew the number of Army ranks, Shapps told Kay Burley: “Not off the top off my head, but on your main question, what I would say is, look, what the Ministry of Defence needs is highly-experienced cabinet ministers who can run a complex infrastructure-orientated department.”
Burley persisted, adding: “Do you want me to tell you how many ranks there are? From field Marshall all the way down to office cadet, number 12 in total.
By now a very red-faced Shapps, replied: “Very good. Thank you.”
Reactions to the minister’s latest blunder were far from forgiving on social media. Here’s a pick of the best:
Related: Watch: The moment Grant Shapps’ lack of Army knowledge is exposed
