Chris Philp

Christopher Ian Brian Mynott Philp^[1] (born 6 July 1976) is a British entrepreneur and Conservative Party politician. He was elected in May 2015 as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Croydon South.

He founded the Next Big Thing, and co-founded Pluto Capital, a property development firm, which has offices in Serbia, Montenegro and London, and co-founded Blueheath, which grew from nothing to £70 million of turnover in 4 years.

Early years

Philp was brought up in West Wickham where his mother, Edna (née Mynott) was a teacher and his father, Dr Brian Philp MBE FSA, is an archaeologist who unsuccessfully stood as a UKIP Councillor in Bromley in 2014. He was educated at St Olave's Grammar School in Orpington, and then at University College, Oxford where he was awarded a first class bachelor's degree in physics. He then completed a master's degree in theoretical quantum mechanics.

Business career

Philp worked for McKinsey and Company. He then went on to found his first company, Blueheath Holdings, in 2000. The company made a turnover of £70 million in four years before being listed on the AIM stock market. The company had created 250 jobs, and was taken over by Booker Cash & Carry Group for 10% of Booker's share capital, now worth £300 million.

He then joined forces with fellow Conservative MP Samuel Gyimah to co-found Clearstone Rollright Training, a broker organising HGV training and employment for the long term unemployed and low paid. The business went bankrupt owing hundreds of thousands to customers and the HMRC.

Philp also co-founded property investment vehicles Moreof Silverstone and Pluto Finance (UK) LLP both of which are registered offshore in Jersey. He founded Next Big Thing in 2009 which resembles Dragons Den and works to get youngsters from inner city backgrounds interested in business, building their confidence and widening their horizons and their ambitions. This concept is thought to be the inspiration for the Government's StartUp Loans fund which is chaired by James Caan of Dragons Den.

Philp was voted London's Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst & Young and the Times in 2003,^[2] 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,^[3] placed at number 8. Richard Branson was number 7 and Peter Jones was number 5.

Political career

Philp was Chairman of the Bow Group, a Conservative Party think tank, from 2004 to 2005, and the key adviser to Andrew Lansley, then Shadow Secretary of State for Health, in the national campaign against MRSA in the run up to the 2005 general election.

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%.

In the 2010 general election, he was the Conservative Parliamentary candidate for Hampstead and Kilburn, losing by 42 votes to Labour MP and former actress Glenda Jackson.^[4] In a 2008 interview with The Guardian about his views as a candidate he said "10 years ago I wouldn't have voted Tory myself." ^[5]

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 MP's or recent candidates in their 30s.^[6] 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.^[7]

In November 2013, Philp was selected to be the Conservative parliamentary candidate for Croydon South, the seat held by Richard Ottaway, who was retiring from parliament. The constituency was described as "one of [the] capital's safest Conservative seats." On 8 May 2015, he was elected as the Member of Parliament for Croydon South, and was later also elected to the Treasury Select Committee. As of August 2016 Philp remains the only member of the 2015 intake of new MPs to be elected to the Committee.

In his constituency Philp has led a successful campaign to prevent the closure of Purley Swimming Pool and is leading a campaign to prevent the Council from creating a traveller site on the Purley Oaks recycling centre.

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.

Philp was opposed to Brexit prior to the 2016 referendum.^[8]

In November 2016 Philp lobbied the Ministry of Justice on behalf of the insurance industry for reform of personal injury law. His brother, Clive J Philp, has been a Company Secretary to over 20 Insurance related companies.

Personal life

Philp is married to Elizabeth. Their twins Kitty and Nicholas, were born prematurely in April 2013 and spent an extended period in intensive care following their birth.^[9]

References