Former Secretary of State for Transport Grant Shapps has been signed up to appear at next year’s ITT Conference.

ITT Chairman Steven Freudmann said Mr Shapps has agreed to ‘be grilled’ by the audience at the conference, which takes place in Qatar next June.

Mr Shapps was replaced as Transport Secretary in the new Liz Truss Government earlier this month.

Steven told Travel Gossip: “Grant Shapps releases that he has not been the most popular person among the travel industry in the past couple of years and he is quite prepared to face the music.

“Part of the frustration among the industry was the apparent lack of transparency and lack of consultation. This is the industry’s chance to ask questions.”

Steven wouldn’t say whether Mr Shapps took a lot of persuasion to agree to attend.

“I’m not going to go into detail, but I made a few phone calls,” he said.

“He’s happy to join us and has said he’s happy that we should decide the format in which he will appear on stage.

“I was clear that I didn’t want him to stand up and make a formal speech. Instead, I want lots of audience participation and he agreed to put his head on the block. The whole point of him coming along is so he can be accountable to the industry and be cross-examined.

“He’s prepared for lots of questions and he expects to be grilled.”

Registration is now open for the conference, which will take place from 5-7 June 2023 at the brand-new Waldorf Astoria, Lusail, Doha.

Over 100 people have signed up so far, non-members are also invited to attend and Steven hopes Mr Shapps’ appearance will encourage more travel agents to sign up.