Chris Pond

Christopher Richard Pond, (born 25 September 1952) is a former Labour Party politician in the United Kingdom. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for Gravesham in Kent, from 1997 to 2005.

He went to the Minchenden School (became comprehensive in 1967, and was merged into the Broomfield School in 1984) in Southgate, London. At the University of Sussex, he gained a BA in Economics in 1974.

From 1974-5, he was a research assistant in Economics at Birkbeck College. From 1975-9, he was a research officer at the Low Pay Unit (now called the Low Pay Commission). He lectured in Economics at the Civil Service College (now called the National School of Government) from 1979-80. From 1981-2, he was a visiting lecturer in Economics at the University of Kent. At the University of Surrey, he was a visiting professor from 1984-6. He was a consultant for the Open University from 1987-8, and 1991-2.

At the 1987 general election, Pond unsuccessfully contested the Welwyn Hatfield constituency.

He won the Gravesham seat at the 1997 general election, beating the sitting Conservative Party MP, Jacques Arnold. He was re-elected at the 2001 general election, and served as a member of the Social Security Select Committee, Parliamentary Private Secretary in the Treasury and then minister in the Department for Work and Pensions.

Pond introduced a Private Members Bill, the Employment of Children Bill in 1998, which subsequently led to greater protection for children at work. He campaigned with the Marchioness Action Group for a Public Inquiry into the sinking of the Marchioness, for greater safety measures and for the introduction of lifeboats on the Thames. At the May 2005 general election, he lost his seat in Parliament to the Conservative Party candidate, Adam Holloway.

In February 2005, Pond was arrested by the police after an alleged incident of criminal damage. He had removed a sign illegally threatening to clamp his heavily pregnant wife’s car and placed it on the door of a neighbour who he believed had been responsible, leaving traces of glue. After the decision whether to prosecute him was referred to the Director of Public Prosecutions and to the Attorney General, Lord Goldsmith, Pond received a police caution.

After being defeated in the 2005 election, Pond was appointed as Chief Executive of The National Council for One Parent Families. In 2007 he became Director of Financial Capability at the Financial Services Authority. Since 2005, he has been Chair of Capacitybuilders, a Cabinet Office sponsored funding agency for charities and social enterprises. He is a Trustee of the End Child Poverty Campaign and of the National Family and Parenting Institute. He is also an independent director of Cape Claims Services, an asbestos compensation scheme.

He married Carole Tongue in 1990. They have one daughter, but divorced in 1999. He is now married to Lorraine (former councillor and mayor of Tower Hamlets). They have a daughter aged 4 and a son aged 15 months.

Chris has run 16 marathons, eleven of them in London, raising thousands for charity. He ran the London Marathon again in April 2009 in support of Gingerbread (the charity for lone parents), Macmillan Cancer Care and United Response (the learning disability and mental health charity)