Philip Hammond MP

Secretary of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Constituency: Runnymede and Weybridge, South East Majority: 16,509

Party: Conservative

Westminster Rt Hon Philip Hammond MP House of Commons London SW1A 0AA Tel: 020 7219 4055 Fax: 020 7219 5851 E-mail: [email protected]

Relevant contributions

Whilst Hammond has made no directly relevant contributions his experience in dealing with conflict and military issues in Libya, Afghanistan, Iraq and Europe will stand him in good stead.

Responsibilities

As Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (), Foreign and Commonwealth Office: Overall responsibility for Foreign and Commonwealth Office; Policy Unit; honours; intelligence policy; cyber security; Preventing Sexual Violence Initiative.

Parliamentary Career

Opposition Spokesperson for: Health and Social Services 1998-2001, Trade and Industry 2001-02; Shadow Minister for Local and Devolved Government Affairs 2002-05; Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury 2005; Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions 2005-07; Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury 2007-10; Secretary of State for: Transport 2010-11, Defence 2011-14, Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Foreign Secretary) 2014-

Past Select committees

Member: Unopposed Bills (Panel) 1997-2004, Environment, Transport and Regional Affairs 1998, Environment, Transport and Regional Affairs (Transport Sub-Committee) 1998, Trade and Industry 2002

All-party groups (membership)

Member, Greyhound Group

Party posts

Chair, East Lewisham Conservative Association 1989-96; Member, Executive Council, Greater London Area 1989-96

Political interests

Economic policy, international trade, European Union, defence, social security, transport, housing and planning, energy, health

Countries of interest

Southern and Eastern Africa, Germany, Italy, Latin America

Non-political career

Assistant to Chair, then marketing manager, Speywood Laboratories Ltd 1977-81; Director, Speywood Medical Ltd 1981-83; Established and ran medical equipment manufacturing and distribution companies 1983-94; Director various medical equipment manufacturing companies 1983-96; Director, Castlemead Ltd 1984-; Partner, CMA Consultants 1993-95; Director, Castlemead Homes Ltd 1994-2004; Consultant to Government of 1995-97; Director, Consort Resources Ltd 1999-2003

Profile

Overview

A long-serving frontbencher in the management consultant mould, Philip Hammond made his way steadily and stealthily upwards through the Opposition ranks, joining the Cabinet as Transport Secretary in 2010 and then Defence Secretary in 2011 following the resignation of .

Background

Born in 1955, son of a retired engineer and local government officer, he is an Essex man who went to Shenfield High School in Brentwood, won an open scholarship to University College, Oxford and took first-class honours in philosophy, politics and economics.

He rose quickly in business and at the age of 28 set up a company distributing medical equipment. He then became a consultant whose clients have included the Government of Malawi. He went on to make a fortune as co-founder and director of a property development company, Castlemead.

Married with three children, he likes travel, cinema and walking in Scotland.

Political career

He was chairman of Lewisham East Conservative Association for seven years, stood for Southwark Borough Council, and fought a hopeless by-election at Newham North East in 1994. Beaten by in the selection at Maidenhead in 1997, he landed what turned out to be the safer new seat of Runnymede and Weybridge, in one of the most affluent corners of the country.

A long-time Eurosceptic, he supported Peter Lilley for party leader in 1997, switching to when Lilley was eliminated. He was one of the first of the 1997 Conservative intake to win promotion to the frontbench, appointed to the health team within a year. In 2001 he supported . He was one of three erstwhile Portillistas appointed to 's frontbench Trade and Industry team, and moved a year later to become a Shadow Minister for Local and Devolved Government.

An articulate, reserved, Commons performer who has been described as a “control freak” with an accountant’s attention to detail, he first reached the Shadow Cabinet in 2005, becoming ’s number two as Shadow Chief Secretary. Six months later, was happy to overlook his support for David Davis in the leadership contest, promoting him another notch to be Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary.

In 2007 he was shuffled back to his old job again as number two in the Treasury team, where he immediately found himself embroiled in such delights as the Statistics and Registration Service Bill. His wide variety of posts under four party leaders ended with Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury. However, in Government that job went to the Liberal Democrats.

His first Government job was as the Secretary of State for Transport, running one of the few Departments he had never shadowed. He declared an end to the “war on motorists” but presided over massive increases in petrol prices, only minimally affected by George Osborne’s concessions on fuel duty. He scrapped the M4 bus lane and planned to increase the motorway speed limit to 80mph.

He provoked the anger of the trade unions when he awarded a £1.5 billion contract to supply new

trains for Thameslink to the German company Siemens instead of the British-based Bombardier, which promptly announced 1,400 job cuts in Derby.

His plans for a new high-speed rail link have caused conflict with some Tory MPs because the route passes through their constituencies. After allowing rail fares to increase by 3 per cent above inflation, he admitted that the railways had already become “a rich man’s toy”.

After 18 months as Transport Secretary he moved to Defence Secretary after the resignation of Liam Fox. He has overseen major cuts in military personnel in the 2010 defence review, and by May 2012 said he had closed the £38 billion gap in defence funding left by the Labour Government and balanced the department’s budget for the first time in a decade. But he reversed the Government’s previous decision over fighter jets for the Navy’s aircraft carriers, reverting to the original order for jump-jets placed by Labour.

He said whole regiments could be abolished or merged and infantry battalions and armoured units disappear as the Army was reduced by 20,000 by 2020, to rely more on reserves and private contractors. The cuts provoked a letter of protest from 25 Conservative MPs.

But he had to admit that millions of pounds had been wasted through a botched recruitment computer system, and that potential recruits may have been put off. He said the project was signed off in 2008, under Labour. He put the cost of a replacement at £4.5 million, but reports suggested that the true cost could be ten times that amount. A permanent new system would not be in place until 2015.

He was the most senior Minister to call on the Government to delay legislation on same-sex marriage, saying it was not the number one priority, would be difficult to deliver, and the Cabinet should concentrate on more important issues.

In May 2013 he was one of the first two Cabinet ministers, with , who said they would vote to leave the European Union if there were a referendum now; he said David Cameron should have a chance to attempt reform first.

As part of the July 2014 Cabinet reshuffle, Hammond left his post at the Ministry of Defence to become the new Foreign Secretary following William Hague’s departure.

Under the new expenses regime he repaid £34,610 as the notional capital gain on his second home, for which he had claimed £20,967 mortgage interest during the transitional period. He denied newspaper claims that he had avoided £200 a month tax by transferring the ownership of a buy-to- let property to his wife.

Contact

Address as: Mr Hammond

Westminster address

Rt Hon Philip Hammond MP House of Commons London SW1A 0AA

Tel: 020 7219 4055 Fax: 020 7219 5851 E-mail: [email protected]

Constituency address

Rt Hon Philip Hammond MP Runnymede, Spelthorne and Weybridge Conservative A 55 Cherry Orchard Staines TW18 2DQ Middlesex Tel: 01784 453544 Fax: 01784 466109 E-mail: [email protected] Web: www.runnymedeweybridgeconservatives.com

Ministry Office

Rt Hon Philip Hammond MP Foreign and Commonwealth Office King Charles Street Whitehall London SW1A 2AH Tel: 020 7008 1500 E-mail: [firstname.surname]@fco.gsi.gov.uk E-mail: [email protected] Web: www.gov.uk/fco Staff

Secretary Hannah Edwards 020 7219 4055 Fax 020 7219 5851