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Chris Philp

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Chris Philp
MP
Official portrait of Chris Philp MP crop 2.jpg
Philp in 2020
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Digital Economy
Assumed office
16 September 2021
Prime MinisterBoris Johnson
Preceded byMatt Warman
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for
Immigration Compliance and Courts[1]
In office
10 September 2019 – 16 September 2021
Prime MinisterBoris Johnson
Preceded byEdward Argar
Succeeded byTom Pursglove
Minister for London
In office
18 December 2019 – 13 February 2020
Prime MinisterBoris Johnson
Preceded byNick Hurd
Succeeded byPaul Scully
Member of Parliament
for Croydon South
Assumed office
7 May 2015
Preceded byRichard Ottaway
Majority12,339 (20.8%)
Camden Borough Councillor
for Gospel Oak
In office
4 May 2006 – 6 May 2010
Preceded byRaj Chada
Succeeded byTheo Blackwell
Personal details
Born (1976-07-06) 6 July 1976 (age 45)
West Wickham, London, England
Political partyConservative
Spouse(s)
Elizabeth
​
(m. 2009)​
Children2
Alma materUniversity College, Oxford
Websitewww.chrisphilp.com

Christopher Ian Brian Mynott Philp[2] (born 6 July 1976) is a British Conservative Party politician. He was elected in May 2015 as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Croydon South.

In August 2019 he was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Chancellor of the Exchequer. In September 2019 he was appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary for the Ministry of Justice and in February 2020 at the Home Office. Prior to his political career, he was a businessman.

Early years

Philp attended the selective St Olave's Grammar School in Orpington, Kent[3] and then studied Physics at University College, Oxford.[4] In 1996 he was editor of the Oxford University student newspaper, Cherwell.[5]

Business career

Philp worked for McKinsey and Company before co-founding distribution business Blueheath Holdings, in 2000. It was floated on the AIM before merging with Booker Cash & Carry as part of the Booker Group in a £375 million deal.[6][7][8]

With future Conservative Party MP Sam Gyimah, he founded Clearstone Training and Recruitment Limited, a HGV training provider,[9] which sold its assets to RCapital in 2007 after going into administration.[10] Philp also founded property development lender Pluto Finance (UK) LLP.[11]

Along with his Blueheath business partner David Gurr, Philp was selected as one of the recipients of London and South Region Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst & Young in 2003.[12]

Political career

Philp was Chairman of the Bow Group, a Conservative Party think tank, from 2004 to 2005.[13] Philp defeated the Labour Leader of Camden Council to become a Councillor in the Gospel Oak ward of Camden in May 2006 with a swing of over 10%, the first Conservative to win the ward in over 20 years.

At the 2010 general election Philp was the Conservative Parliamentary candidate for Hampstead and Kilburn, losing by 42 votes to the Labour's sitting MP Glenda Jackson and increasing the Conservative vote share of the vote by nearly 10 percentage points compared to the previous election.[14][15]

Philp's book Conservative Revival: Blueprint for a Better Britain was published in conjunction with the Bow Group and was co-authored by 10 Conservative MPs, or recent candidates in their 30s, and with a foreword written by David Cameron, the then Leader of the Opposition. Philp was also the author of "Work for the Dole: A proposal to fix welfare dependency", published by The Taxpayers' Alliance in September 2013. His report called for mandatory participation in community work and training in return for the continued payment of benefits payments.[16]

In November 2013, Philp was selected to be the Conservative parliamentary candidate for Croydon South, the seat was held by the then Conservative MP Richard Ottaway, who was retiring at the next general election. On 7 May 2015, he was elected as the Member of Parliament for Croydon South, and with a majority of over 17,000; the highest achieved in the constituency for over 20 years. Shortly after being elected to Parliament, Philp became the first of the 2015 Conservative intake to be elected by other MPs to the influential Treasury Select Committee.[17]

Philp is an outspoken critic of Govia Thameslink Railway's ownership of Southern Rail; in 2017, Philp called for the Government to take control of the Southern Rail franchise and for cross-party support in ending disputes between Southern Rail and the RMT Union.[18] He also proposed a Private Member's Bill to ban 'unreasonable' and 'damaging' strikes on essential services, including trains.[19] Philp wrote "Restoring Responsible Ownership", a report on corporate rules which recommended greater shareholder control over company directors' appointments and pay.[20] Philp's proposals received positive coverage for mounting 'pressure' and arguing that 'asset managers had to do much more to engage with companies, in particular to exert some degree of control over executive pay.'[21]

Philp was opposed to Brexit prior to the 2016 European membership referendum.[22] Philp supports selective grammar schools, arguing for one to open a satellite in his constituency to circumvent a ban in England on new selective schools and the borough council's own non-selective policy.[23] In May 2016, when debating the Government's Starter Homes Initiative, Philp was accused by housing charities of failing to understand how a couple buying a house for the first time cannot afford a £10,000 deposit. Responding to criticism, he stated 'No one says it is easy, the average age of a first time buyer these days is about 30 so people have 10 years to save £5,000.'[24]

Following the 2017 General Election, Philp was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to HM Treasury Ministers.[25] Philp was made PPS to Sajid Javid then Secretary of State for the Ministry Housing, Communities and Local Government on 22 January 2018.[26] Between December 2018 to May 2019 he was the Conservative Party Vice Chairman for Policy.[27] In August 2019, he was appointed as PPS to Sajid Javid, Chancellor of the Exchequer. Philp had backed Javid in the 2019 Conservative Party leadership election.[28][29] In September 2019, he was appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary for the Ministry of Justice.[30] He then served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Immigration Compliance and Courts. He replaced Matt Warman as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Digital in September 2021.

Personal life

Philp married Elizabeth in 2009.[31] Their twins, a boy and a girl, were born prematurely in April 2013, and spent an extended period in intensive care following their birth.[32] Philp's father Brian has stood as a candidate for the United Kingdom Independence Party.[33]

References

  1. ^ Jointly with the Home Office from February 2020
  2. ^ "Election of a Member of Parliament for Croydon South" (PDF). Croydon.gov.uk. 7 May 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 26 April 2017.
  3. ^ "The anatomy of a London candidate: who are these people who want to be your next MP?". Evening Standard. 21 April 2015.
  4. ^ The Martlet (PDF). University College, Oxford. Spring 2020. p. 46 https://www.univ.ox.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/The-Martlet-Issue-11.pdf. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  5. ^ "Cherwell – independent since 1920 | Cherwell". 18 April 2011.
  6. ^ Bowker, John (9 May 2007). "Booker strikes deal to return to stock market". Reuters. Retrieved 6 April 2017.
  7. ^ Guy Montague-Jones, Guy (15 May 2015). "Pluto Finance founder is elected new Tory MP for Croydon South". Property Week. Archived from the original on 15 November 2016. Retrieved 6 April 2017.
  8. ^ Walsh, Fiona; Finch, Julia (9 May 2007). "Booker taken over by minnow". The Guardian.
  9. ^ Clegg, Alicia (13 December 2005). "Tricks of the truck-driving trade". Financial Times. Retrieved 3 April 2017.
  10. ^ "Clearstone bought out of administration by RCapital". www.commercialmotor.com. 24 August 2007.
  11. ^ "Pluto Finance founder is elected new Tory MP for Croydon South". Property Week. 15 May 2015. Retrieved 27 January 2021.
  12. ^ "Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year London & South Region Award Recipients" (PDF). Ernst & Young. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 3 August 2015.
  13. ^ "Bow Group Alumni | The Bow Group". www.bowgroup.org. Archived from the original on 9 July 2019. Retrieved 9 July 2019.
  14. ^ "The new Tories: Chris Philp, Hampstead and Kilburn | Politics". The Guardian. 9 September 2008. Retrieved 22 July 2015.
  15. ^ "Hampstead & Kilburn". BBC News. Retrieved 9 December 2019.
  16. ^ "The New Boys and Girls - No. 15 Chris Philp". Private Eye. No. 1420. Pressdram Ltd. 10 June 2016. p. 13.
  17. ^ "Chris Philp MP - UK Parliament". Parliament.uk. 20 July 2015. Retrieved 26 April 2017.
  18. ^ "Will the government take over Southern trains?". BBC News. 27 January 2017. Retrieved 27 January 2021.
  19. ^ Swinford, Steven (24 January 2017). "More than 120 Tory MPs back calls for tougher anti-strike laws to end rail misery for commuters". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 6 April 2017.
  20. ^ "Restoring Responsible Ownership" (PDF). High Pay Centre. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 May 2018. Retrieved 7 November 2019.
  21. ^ "Anthony Hilton: Wake-up call our fund managers must heed". Evening Standard. 20 September 2016.
  22. ^ Goodenough, Tom (16 February 2016). "Which Tory MPs back Brexit, who doesn't and who is still on the fence?". The Spectator. Retrieved 11 October 2016.
  23. ^ "London MP backs grammar annexe in non-selective borough". BBC News. 23 October 2015. Retrieved 27 January 2021.
  24. ^ Andrea Downey. "MP Chris Philp 'fails to understand' how first-time buyers cannot afford a £10,000 deposit (From Croydon Guardian)". Croydonguardian.co.uk. Retrieved 26 April 2017.
  25. ^ "Parliamentary Private Secretaries: full list". Conservative Home.
  26. ^ "List of Parliamentary Private Secretaries (PPS): January 2018". GOV.UK.
  27. ^ "Chris Philp MP, Croydon South". TheyWorkForYou.
  28. ^ Dickson, Annabelle (26 July 2019). "Politico London Playbook: Boris on tour — Negotiations, what negotiations? — A week in the life of a SpAd". Politico.
  29. ^ "Chris Philp MP: The country is crying out for change - Sajid Javid can deliver that". Politics Home. 12 June 2019.
  30. ^ "Chris Philp". UK Parliament. Retrieved 7 November 2019.
  31. ^ "Philp, Chris, (born 6 July 1976), MP (C) Croydon South, since 2015". Who's Who. 2015. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.u283931.
  32. ^ Keeley, Amie (2 August 2013). "Former Hampstead and Kilburn parliamentary candidate's delight as premature twins arrive home". Hamhigh.co.uk. Retrieved 22 July 2015.
  33. ^ "Father of Tory MP Chris Philp stands in general election ... for Ukip". Total Politics. 19 May 2017.

External links

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament
for Croydon South
2015–present 		Incumbent
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