Chris Philp | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2024 | |
| Shadow Home Secretary | |
| Assumed office 5 November 2024 | |
| Leader | Kemi Badenoch |
| Preceded by | James Cleverly |
| Shadow Leader of the House of Commons | |
| In office 8 July 2024 – 5 November 2024 | |
| Leader | Rishi Sunak |
| Preceded by | Lucy Powell |
| Succeeded by | Jesse Norman |
| Minister of State for Crime, Policing and Fire | |
| In office 26 October 2022 – 5 July 2024 | |
| Prime Minister | Rishi Sunak |
| Preceded by | Jeremy Quin |
| Succeeded by | Diana Johnson |
| Minister for the Cabinet Office Paymaster-General | |
| In office 14 October 2022 – 25 October 2022 | |
| Prime Minister | Liz Truss |
| Preceded by | Edward Argar |
| Succeeded by | Jeremy Quin |
| Chief Secretary to the Treasury | |
| In office 6 September 2022 – 14 October 2022 | |
| Prime Minister | Liz Truss |
| Preceded by | Simon Clarke |
| Succeeded by | Edward Argar |
| Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Tech and the Digital Economy | |
| In office 16 September 2021 – 7 July 2022 | |
| Prime Minister | Boris Johnson |
| Preceded by | Matt Warman |
| Succeeded by | Damian Collins |
| Minister for London | |
| In office 18 December 2019 – 13 February 2020 | |
| Prime Minister | Boris Johnson |
| Preceded by | Nick Hurd |
| Succeeded by | Paul Scully |
| Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Immigration Compliance and Courts[a] | |
| In office 10 September 2019 – 16 September 2021 | |
| Prime Minister | Boris Johnson |
| Preceded by | Edward Argar |
| Succeeded by | Tom Pursglove |
| Member of Parliament forCroydon South | |
| Assumed office 7 May 2015 | |
| Preceded by | Richard Ottaway |
| Majority | 2,313 (4.7%) |
| Camden Borough Councillor forGospel Oak | |
| In office 4 May 2006 – 6 May 2010 | |
| Preceded by | Raj Chada |
| Succeeded by | Theo BlackwellMBE |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1976-07-06)6 July 1976 (age 49) West Wickham, England |
| Political party | Conservative |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 2 |
| Alma mater | University College, Oxford |
| Website | www |
Christopher Ian Brian Mynott Philp (born 6 July 1976)[1] is a British politician who serves asShadow Home Secretary since November 2024. A member of theConservative Party, he sits asMember of Parliament (MP) forCroydon South since being elected in 2015.
Minister of State for Crime, Policing and Fire from October 2022 to July 2024,[2] Philp previously served inLiz Truss's Cabinet from September to October 2022 asChief Secretary to the Treasury and then asMinister for the Cabinet Office andPaymaster-General.
In August 2019, Philp was appointedParliamentary Private Secretary toChancellor of the ExchequerSajid Javid. In September 2019, he was appointed by Prime MinisterBoris Johnson asParliamentary Under-Secretary of State at theMinistry of Justice and in February 2020 at theHome Office. He also served briefly asMinister for London from December 2019 to February 2020, before being moved to the position ofParliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Tech and the Digital Economy by Johnson in theSeptember 2021 reshuffle. He resigned from ministerial office during theJuly 2022 government crisis.
After Johnson resigned in July 2022, Philp supportedLiz Truss’s bid to becomeConservative leader. Following Truss's appointment asPrime Minister, she promoted Philp to the Cabinet asChief Secretary to the Treasury in September 2022. In October 2022, whenKwasi Kwarteng was dismissed as Chancellor as a result of his "mini-budget", Philp was demoted toMinister for the Cabinet Office andPaymaster-General.[3][4][5] AfterRishi Sunak succeeded Truss as Prime Minister, Philp becameMinister of State at theHome Office until the end of the Conservative Government in July 2024.[6]
In Opposition, Philp served asShadow Leader of the House of Commons under Sunak'scaretaker Shadow Cabinet before becomingShadow Home Secretary in November 2024 followingKemi Badenoch's election tolead the Conservative Party and asLeader of HM Opposition.[7][8]
Christopher Philp was born atWest Wickham,London, and attendedSt Olave's Grammar School inOrpington,Bromley,[9] before studying Physics atUniversity College, Oxford, graduatingMPhys in 1997.[10]
In 1996 he was editor of theOxford student newspaper,Cherwell.[11] In 1996, while a second-year undergraduate atOxford, Philp was fined and suspended by theOxford Union for recording a controversial speech byOJ Simpson and selling copies to newspapers.[12]
Philp worked forMcKinsey & Company before co-founding distribution business Blueheath Holdings, in 2000. It was floated on theAIM before being absorbed in a reverse takeover by theBooker Group in 2007, a deal that valued Booker at £375m.[13][14][15]
In 2003 Philp receivedLondon's Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year Award fromErnst & Young andThe Times.[16]
With fellow futureConservative Party MPSam Gyimah, he founded Clearstone Training & Recruitment Limited, anHGV training provider.[17] Philp also founded property development lender Pluto Finance and Moreof Silverstone.[18] He founded acharity The Next Big Thing, which wound up solvently in 2017.[19]
Philp was electedChairman of theBow Group, aConservative think tank, for 2004/05.[20] Defeating theLabour Leader ofCamden Council he was electedCouncillor for theGospel Oak Ward,Camden inMay 2006 with a swing of over 10%, the first Conservative to represent theward in over 20 years. He then stood down at the2010 local elections.[21]
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 had a foreword written byDavid Cameron, then Leader of HM Opposition. Philp is also the author ofWork for the Dole: a Proposal to Fix Welfare Dependency, published bythe 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.[22]
At the2010 general election, Philp stood forHampstead and Kilburn, coming second with 32.7% of the vote behind the incumbentLabourMPGlenda Jackson by 42 votes, the narrowest majority in the resulting House of Commons.[23][24]
In November 2013, Philp was selected as theConservative parliamentary candidate forCroydon South. At the2015 general election, Philp was elected asMP for Croydon South with 54.5% of the vote and a majority of 17,140.[25]
Shortly after entering theHouse of Commons, Philp became the first of the 2015 Conservative intake to be elected by fellow MPs to the influentialTreasury Select Committee.[26]
Philp supports selectivegrammar schools. In October 2015, he argued for one to open a satellite in Croydon to circumventa ban in England on new selective schools andCroydon Council's own non-selective policy.[27]
In May 2016, when debating the Government'sStarter 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."[28]
Philp opposedBrexit before the2016 European membership referendum.[29]
Philp has been an outspoken critic ofGovia Thameslink Railway's ownership ofSouthern 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 theRMT Union.[30] He also proposed aPrivate Member's Bill to ban "unreasonable" and "damaging" strikes on essential services, including trains.[31]
At the snap2017 general election, Philp was returned as MP for Croydon South with a decreased vote share of 54.4% and a decreased majority of 11,406.[32][33][34] After the general election, Philp was appointed aParliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) atHM Treasury.[35]
Philp was made PPS toSajid Javid thenSecretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government on 22 January 2018.[36] Between December 2018 to May 2019 he served as theConservative Party Vice-Chairman for Policy.[37]
In August 2019, he was appointed PPS to Sajid Javid,Chancellor of the Exchequer. Philp had backed Javid in the2019 Conservative Party leadership election.[38][39]
In September 2019, Philp was appointedParliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Justice.[40]
Philp was again returned at the2019 general election, with a decreased vote share of 52.2% but an increased majority of 12,339.[41]After the general election, Philp was appointedParliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Immigration Compliance and Courts. He replacedMatt Warman asParliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the DCMS in September 2021.
On 7 July 2022, Philp resigned from Government in protest atBoris Johnson's leadership following a large number of other ministerial resignations during theJuly 2022 United Kingdom government crisis.[42]
Philp was appointed byLiz Truss asChief Secretary to the Treasury and sworn of thePrivy Council on 13 September 2022.[43]
Shortly after Chancellor Kwasi Kwartengannounced the Government's 'mini-budget' on 23 September, Chris Philp as his deputy at HM Treasury, posted a tweet that prematurely celebrated the rise in the pound against the dollar, which read: "Great to see sterling strengthening on the back of the new UK Growth Plan." However, the pound's strength was short-lived, and it subsequently fell to a 37-year low against the dollar. This led to ridicule of Philp's tweet and he later deleted it stating: "It was an interesting move which I responded to".[44][45][46][47] Speaking at the Conservative Party conference in early October, Philp defended the mini-budget giving it "9.5 out of 10" and rejected analyses which showed it disproportionally benefited high earners, despite him acknowledging that it did to the media only days before.[48]
On 14 October, Truss dismissed ChancellorKwasi Kwarteng and Philp from the Treasury after 38 days in office.[49] Philp was demoted toMinister for the Cabinet Office andPaymaster General, positions that his successorEdward Argar previously held.[50]
Upon the appointment ofRishi Sunak as Prime Minister on 25 October 2022, Philp left theCabinet to becomeMinister of State for Crime, Policing and Fire at theHome Office, in a straight job swap withJeremy Quin. He held this post until the defeat of the Conservative Party at the2024 general election.
In September 2023, it was revealed that Philp is a member of a social media group in which criminal acts, damage and vandalism to public property are celebrated on a near-daily basis, especially vandalism ofULEZcameras.[51][52]
In 2024, Philp opposed the construction of a small block of flats on the plot of one family home inPurley, siding with a localresidents' association.[53][54] The proposed building was in a residential area dominated by large single-family housing. Philp argued: "New homes are needed but the right place for new flats is Croydon town centre, central London and brownfield sites." However, commentators noted that the lot in question was a brownfield site.[55]
On an episode ofQuestion Time, broadcast by the BBC on 25 April 2024, Philp discussed the Government'snew policy on sending migrants to Rwanda. When questioned by an audience member, Philp appeared to confuseRwanda with theDemocratic Republic of the Congo and seemed unsure as to their sovereign status.[56] Philp later said that the question was rhetorical given his difficulty hearing the original question.[57]
Philp retained his seat in the2024 United Kingdom general election, but with a reduced majority of 2,313 compared to 12,339 at the previous general election.[58] Following the Conservative Party's defeat at the 2024 general election and the subsequent formation of theStarmer ministry, Philp was appointedShadow Leader of the House of Commons in Rishi Sunak'scaretaker Shadow Cabinet.[8]
On 5 November, newly-electedLeader of HM Opposition,Kemi Badenoch, appointed Philp asShadow Home Secretary.[7]
AfterRupert LoweMP was suspended from theReform UKwhip, Philp defended him, saying: “Rupert Lowe has been treated appallingly by Reform and by Nigel Farage in particular [and that he has been] subject to all kinds of vicious and vitriolic attacks", and invited Lowe to defect to theConservatives.[59][60]
In August 2025, in relation to the acquittal ofLabourCouncillor Ricky Jones on a charge of inciting violent disorder, Philp said: "It is astonishing that this Labour councillor, who was caught on video calling for throats to be slit, is let off scot-free, whereas Lucy Connolly got 31 months prison for posting something no worse".Lucy Connolly, wife of a ConservativeWest Northamptonshire Councillor, pleaded guilty atNorthampton Crown Court in September 2024 to the charge she faced thereby admitting she had intended to stir up racial hatred. Councillor Jones denied the offence he faced and was found not guilty byjury atSnaresbrook Crown Court.[61]
Philp married his wife Elizabeth in 2009.[62] Their twins, a son and a daughter, were born prematurely in April 2013, and spent an extended period in intensive care.[63] His father Brian Philp stood as theUKIPprospective parliamentary candidate forOrpington at the2017 general election.[64]
In June 2024, it was announced that Philp's wife, Elizabeth, is being sued over allegations of corporate espionage. She was accused of illegally using confidential information from her former employer to set up a rival business.[65] When questioned about the case at a local hustings, Philp acknowledged the ongoing case, but refused to confirm or deny whether he was a stakeholder in the business.[66]
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forCroydon South 2015–present | Incumbent |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Chief Secretary to the Treasury 2022 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister for the Cabinet Office 2022 | Succeeded by |
| Paymaster General 2022 | ||
| Preceded by | Shadow Leader of the House of Commons 2024 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Shadow Home Secretary 2024–present | Incumbent |
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