Chris Philp

Christopher Ian Brian Mynott Philp (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.

Philp was brought up in West Wickham, close to the border of Bromley and Croydon, where his mother, Edna (née Mynott) was a primary school teacher and his father, Dr Brian Philp was an archaeologist. Philp was educated at a state primary school in West Wickham, St Olave's Grammar School in Orpington, and then at University College, Oxford, graduating with a first class bachelor's degree in Physics.

In 1996 he was editor of the Oxford University student newspaper, Cherwell. He then completed a master's degree in theoretical quantum mechanics.

Philp worked for McKinsey and Company advising the boards of FTSE 100 companies before co-founding distribution business Blueheath Holdings, in 2000. The company grew from nothing to £70 million of turnover in four years, and was floated on the AIM before merging with Booker Cash & Carry as part of the Booker Group in a £375 million deal.

He joined forces with Sam Gyimah, from 2010 a Conservative MP, to found Clearstone Training and Recruitment Limited, a HGV training provider, which sold its assets to RCaptial in 2007.

Philp also founded property development lender Pluto Finance (UK) LLP, which is registered in the UK and the charity Next Big Thing, a business plan competition for inner-city teenagers which was eventually handed over to The Mercers' Company.

Philp was voted London's Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst & Young and The Times in 2003, alongside being voted the CBI's Entrepreneur of the Future, 2005. In 2005, Philp was listed as one of the UK's top 50 entrepreneurs by startups.co.uk,

Philp was Chairman of the Bow Group, a Conservative Party think tank, from 2004 to 2005. Philp defeated the Labour Leader of Camden Council to be 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.

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. The book was an important contribution to the modernisation of the Conservative Party, 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.

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 8 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.

Philp is an outspoken critic of Govia Thameslink Railway's ownership of Southern Rail, the performance of which he has described as "abysmal". Philp has 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. He proposed a Private Member's Bill to ban 'unreasonable' and 'damaging' strikes on essential services, including trains.

Philp wrote "Restoring Responsible Ownership", a report on corporate rules which recommended greater shareholder control over company directors' appointments and pay. 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.'

Philp was opposed to Brexit prior to the 2016 European membership referendum.Philp has publicly declared his support for grammar schools, stating 'grammar schools have proven an excellent way to help children from poorer backgrounds achieve their full potential.'

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.'

In 2017 Philp published his report 'Homes for Everyone', which called for radical changes to housing policy to improve affordability. The report was described as 'containing many ideas that deserve serious consideration if we are to make home ownership the norm for young people' by Robert Colvile, the Director of the Centre for Policy Studies.

Following the 2017 General Election, Philp was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to HM Treasury Ministers. Philp was made PPS to Sajid Javid then Secretary of State for the Ministry Housing, Communities and Local Government on 22 January 2018. Between December 2018 to May 2019 he was the Conservative Party Vice Chairman for Policy.

Philp led a successful campaign to cut business rates for small businesses in 2018. The cut in business rates featured in the 2018 October budget, during which Philp received thanks from the Chancellor, Philip Hammond, for proposing the policy.

In July 2019, Philp voted in favour of an amendment to allow same-sex marriage in Northern Ireland. Later that week, he addressed a large crowd at Croydon Pride and criticised the countries in the world where homosexuality is illegal, saying they should be "named and shamed". He is anLGBT+ Ally.

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. In September, he was appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary for the Ministry of Justice.

Philp married Elizabeth in 2009. Their twins were born prematurely in April 2013 and spent an extended period in intensive care following their birth.