Talk:Grant Shapps

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OpenBrix was nominated for deletion. The discussion was closed on 20 September 2018 with a consensus to merge. Its contents were merged into Grant Shapps. The original page is now a redirect to this page. For the contribution history and old versions of the redirected article, please see its history; for its talk page, see here.

This article has been mentioned by multiple media organizations:

Daniel Boffey (8 September 2012). "Grant Shapps altered school performance entry on Wikipedia". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 September 2013. The internet activities of the new Tory party chairman, Grant Shapps, were under renewed scrutiny after it emerged that he secretly altered his Wikipedia biography to edit out references to his performance at school, political gaffes and the identity of donors to his private office.
Graeme Paton (9 September 2012). "Grant Shapps 'edited Wikipedia page to remove school records'". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 12 September 2012. Retrieved 19 September 2013. Conservative party chairman Grant Shapps secretly edited his Wikipedia entry to remove school exam results after the site wrongly showed he got four, not five O-levels.
Randeep Ramesh (11 September 2012). "Grant Shapps's Wikipedia page was edited to remove byelection gaffe". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 September 2013. Further details have emerged of how the constituency office of the new Conservative chairman Grant Shapps altered his Wikipedia biography to remove references to embarrassing political gaffes, the marketing website he founded and his personal fortune.
Matthew Holehouse (19 September 2013). "Grant Shapps failed science O-level". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 19 September 2013. The Conservative Party chairman failed his science O-level, it has emerged, a year after he admitted deleting his academic record from Wikipedia.
Randeep Ramesh (21 April 2015). "Grant Shapps accused of editing Wikipedia pages of Tory rivals". The Guardian. Retrieved 21 April 2015. Wikipedia has blocked a user account on suspicions that it is being used by the Conservative party chairman, Grant Shapps, "or someone acting on his behalf" to edit his own page along with the entries of Tory rivals and political opponents.
Randeep Ramesh (23 April 2015). "Wikipedia volunteer who blocked 'Grant Shapps' account: I stand by my decision". The Guardian. Retrieved 27 April 2015. Richard Symonds is the volunteer administrator who blocked an account on Wikipedia on suspicion that it was being operated by Grant Shapps or someone "acting on his behalf".
Randeep Ramesh (9 June 2015). "Wikipedia: account at centre of row 'not linked' to Grant Shapps". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 June 2015. Wikipedia's arbitration committee decided that there was no "definitive" evidence that linked the user to Shapps and criticised Symonds for not running his decision past colleagues, who are all volunteers, before blocking the account.
Jamie Grierson (6 October 2017). "Grant Shapps: from rising Tory star to plotter against the PM". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 October 2017. Months after the Michael Green alter ego was unearthed, it was reported that Shapps had deleted information from his Wikipedia page, including the names of donors to his private office. […] Similar allegations resurfaced weeks before the 2015 general election. The online encyclopedia banned a user called "Contribsx" […] Shapps denied having anything to do with Contribsx. The account was subsequently unblocked after a vote of Wikipedia's arbitration committee

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Cryptocurrency ICO news coverage

The Financial Times ran an article on Shapps' involvement in an initial coin offering, OpenBrix. He was getting tokens with a notional value of £170k to £700k for his services as an advisor, but he put it in the register of MPs' interests as "unpaid": "Grant Shapps resigns from blockchain positions after FTAV discovers secret pay deal". It's all over the news in the last couple of days, and now a Labour MP is calling for him to be investigated "Labour calls for inquiry into ex-Tory chairman Grant Shapps". Is this worth mentioning? (I won't add it myself as I was one of Jemima Kelly's sources for the original FT story, looking into the OpenBrix ICO.)

It's not absolutely clear from the press coverage, but he didn't get £170k-£700k in cash, or even a reasonably convertible cryptocurrency - he would be getting a quantity of ICO tokens, presently worth 0 (hence his register entry as "unpaid"), but which might be worth a bundle later. The quantitiy he would have received would have been an amount they were selling for £170k-£700k. But of course converting those tokens back into cash, or a reasonably cash-equivalent crypto, would be rather more difficult - hence present value of 0 - David Gerard (talk) 18:59, 3 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Correct. Unless and until some "actual specie value" exists, paying taxes on such items is silly. Or else I could give a person my own masterpiece painting "for services rendered", value it as $200,000 and make them pay taxes on it? Better yet, ask for an appraisal of your stack of "pseudo-currency". Collect (talk) 11:00, 9 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Not trying to discuss the hypotheticals here, per WP:NOTFORUM - mostly whether and how to cover it in the article - David Gerard (talk) 12:10, 9 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Heading

The heading Professional and writing career sounds missing leading after reading, sounds like he has written books, but nothing like that is noted. The few paragraphs are just Business ventures so would that not be a better sub-heading? Govvy (talk) 09:02, 22 June 2019 (UTC)[reply]

sounds good - David Gerard (talk) 09:11, 22 June 2019 (UTC)[reply]

k, changed it over, cheers. Govvy (talk) 09:16, 22 June 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Shapps's web marketing business

'Shapps's web marketing business's 20/20 Challenge publication also drew criticism. It cost $497 and promised customers earnings of $20,000 in 20 days. Upon purchase, the "toolkit" was revealed to be an ebook, advising the user to create their own toolkit and recruit 100 "Joint Venture Partners" to resell it for a share of the profits.'

That sentence is well-sourced. The source doesn't call it a Ponzi scheme, but for the life of me I can't see what else it was. As much as I would like to, I cannot say that in Wikipedia's voice unless a source uses that (largely US) term or an equivalent. Narky Blert (talk) 00:36, 11 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Well you can't really say Ponzi scheme unless a source says it! Other than that, I am not sure what else you're asking. Govvy (talk) 08:24, 11 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Allegations that Shapps has edited Wikipedia do they need to be mentioned?

I know this has been discussed previously a few years back but this matter should be re-investigated.

It seems that the article breaches WP:Undue as it places undue weight on these allegations. Their validity is irrelevant. Shapps is not even remotely known for these controversies. DukeLondon (talk) 12:47, 25 July 2021 (UTC)[reply]

There have been quite a few "Who is Grant Shapps?" media articles recently, and that incident is one of the things several of them mention. As a couple of examples, the PA discussed it in the 10th & 11th paragraphs,^[1] whereas the Evening Standard first refers to it in the article subheading.^[2] I'm not an expert of Wikipedia policies, but it seems to me like a reasonable thing to include in Wikipedia's own biography. Aoeuidhtns (talk) 16:11, 28 October 2022 (UTC)[reply]

References

^ "Grant Shapps, spreadsheet schemer, takes Home Office reins". Stirling News. High Wycombe, UK. PA. 19 October 2022. Retrieved 28 October 2022.
^ Loffhagen, Emma (20 October 2022). "Meet Grant Shapps, the UK's third home secretary in three months". Evening Standard. London. Retrieved 28 October 2022.

Fake testimonials

Under "Business Ventures" the article states: "The existence of at least three people who allegedly provided testimonials for the company has been questioned."

The wording - 'has been questioned' - suggests that there is some doubt. In fact there is no doubt that the testimonials were fake, exposed by the Channel 4 investigation. One of them is from "Corinne Stockheath". Although the surname looks English, nobody of that name existed, as can be proved by a search of the Civil Registration index of births, marriages and deaths for England and Wales, the data from which are online at freebmd.org.uk. A search for the birth records of people surnamed Stockheath born between 1880 and 1997 (the last date publicly available) finds that there aren't any. The name was clearly invented for the purpose of deception.Insulation2 (talk) 11:41, 14 March 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Dean Archer lawsuit

What became of Dean Archer's lawsuit against Shapps, the threat of which is mentioned in the article? 87.75.117.183 (talk) 21:29, 27 May 2024 (UTC)[reply]

[1] "Grant Shapps, spreadsheet schemer, takes Home Office reins". Stirling News. High Wycombe, UK. PA. 19 October 2022. Retrieved 28 October 2022.

[2] Loffhagen, Emma (20 October 2022). "Meet Grant Shapps, the UK's third home secretary in three months". Evening Standard. London. Retrieved 28 October 2022.

[1]

[2]