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Philip Hammond

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The Right Honourable
Philip Hammond
MP
Chancellor of the Exchequer
Incumbent
Assumed office
13 July 2016
Prime MinisterTheresa May
Preceded byGeorge Osborne
Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
In office
15 July 2014 – 13 July 2016
Prime MinisterDavid Cameron
Preceded byWilliam Hague
Succeeded byBoris Johnson
Secretary of State for Defence
In office
14 October 2011 – 15 July 2014
Prime MinisterDavid Cameron
Preceded byLiam Fox
Succeeded byMichael Fallon
Secretary of State for Transport
In office
11 May 2010 – 14 October 2011
Prime MinisterDavid Cameron
Preceded byThe Lord Adonis
Succeeded byJustine Greening
Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury
In office
2 July 2007 – 11 May 2010
LeaderDavid Cameron
Preceded byTheresa Villiers
Succeeded byLiam Byrne
In office
10 May 2005 – 6 December 2005
LeaderMichael Howard
Preceded byGeorge Osborne
Succeeded byTheresa Villiers
Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
In office
6 December 2005 – 2 July 2007
LeaderDavid Cameron
Preceded byMalcolm Rifkind
Succeeded byChris Grayling
Member of Parliament
for Runnymede and Weybridge
Incumbent
Assumed office
1 May 1997
Preceded byConstituency established
Majority22,134 (44.2%)
Personal details
Born
Philip Anthony Hammond

(1955-12-04) 4 December 1955 (age 68)
Epping, England, UK
Political partyConservative
SpouseSusan Williams-Walker
Children3
Alma materUniversity College, Oxford

Philip Anthony Hammond PC MP (born 4 December 1955)[1] is a British Conservative politician who was appointed Chancellor of the Exchequer on 13 July 2016.

Hammond was born in Epping, Essex and studied PPE at University College, Oxford. He first entered Parliament following his election in 1997 as the Member of Parliament for Runnymede and Weybridge.

He was promoted to the Shadow Cabinet by David Cameron in 2005 as Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, remaining in this position until a 2007 reshuffle, when he became Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury. After the formation of the Coalition Government in May 2010, he was appointed Secretary of State for Transport and was sworn of the Privy Council.

Upon the resignation of Liam Fox over a scandal in October 2011, Hammond was promoted to Secretary of State for Defence and, in July 2014, he became Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs.[2][3] After Theresa May succeeded Cameron as Prime Minister in July 2016, she appointed Hammond Chancellor of the Exchequer.

Early life

Hammond was born at Epping, Essex, the son of a civil engineer. He was educated at Brookfield Junior School, and Shenfield School (now Shenfield High School) in Brentwood, Essex. He studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at University College, Oxford, and graduated with a first class honours Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree.

Hammond joined the medical equipment manufacturers Speywood Laboratories Ltd in 1977, becoming a director of Speywood Medical Limited in 1981.[4] In 1982, an automatic electrocardiograph electrode manufacturing plant figured among his notable achievements. He left in 1983 and, from 1984, served as a director in Castlemead Ltd.

From 1993 to 1995, he was a partner in CMA Consultants and, from 1994, a director in Castlemead Homes.[5] He had many business interests including house building and property, manufacturing, healthcare, and oil and gas. He undertook various consulting assignments in Latin America for the World Bank in Washington, D.C., and was a consultant to the Government of Malawi from 1995 until his election to Parliament.

Early political career

Hammond was the Chairman of the Lewisham East Conservative Association for seven years from 1989 and contested the 1994 Newham North East by-election following the death of sitting Labour MP Ron Leighton, losing to Labour's Stephen Timms by 11,818 votes. He was elected to the House of Commons at the 1997 general election for the newly created Surrey seat of Runnymede and Weybridge. He won the seat with a majority of 9,875 and has remained its MP since. He made his maiden speech on 17 June 1997.

In Parliament he served on the Environment, Transport and the Regions Select Committee from 1997 until he was promoted by William Hague as front bench spokesman for Health. He was moved to become spokesman for Trade and Industry by Iain Duncan Smith in 2001, and later transferred to Shadow Office of the Deputy Prime Minister responsibilities by Michael Howard in 2003.

Howard promoted Hammond to the Shadow Cabinet following the 2005 general election as Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury. Following the election of David Cameron as Conservative leader later in 2005, Hammond became the Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. He was moved back to the role of Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury in David Cameron's reshuffle following Gordon Brown's accession to the premiership.

In government

Secretary of State for Transport

Hammond was appointed Secretary of State for Transport following the formation of the Coalition Government on 12 May 2010, a position he held until 14 October 2011.

On 28 September 2011, he announced that the Government was to initiate a consultation later that year on raising the speed limit on motorways from 70 mph to 80 mph, with a view to introducing the new limit in 2013.[6] But following criticism, including that modelling predicted a 20+% increase in motorway deaths, the plans were dropped by his successor.[7]

Secretary of State for Defence

Hammond meeting with US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta

Hammond became Secretary of State for Defence on 14 October 2011 when Liam Fox resigned.[8] As Secretary of State for Defence, Hammond became a member of the National Security Council.

In December 2011, he announced that women were to be allowed to serve on Royal Navy submarines. The first women officers began serving on Vanguard class submarines in late 2013. They were due to be followed by female ratings in 2015, when women should also begin serving on the new Astute class submarine.[9] It was also confirmed that the cost of the Libyan operations was £212 million – less than was estimated – including £67 million for replacing spent munitions, is all expected to be met from HM Treasury's reserve.[10] At the start of Britain's military intervention in Libya, Chancellor George Osborne told MPs it was likely to cost tens of millions of pounds, raised to £260 million by the MoD as the action continued over the summer.

In January 2012 the Ministry of Defence announced 4,200 job cuts in a second round of armed forces redundancies. The Army will see up to 2,900 job cuts, including 400 Gurkhas, while the RAF will lose up to 1,000 members and the Royal Navy up to 300. The job losses will account for some of the cuts announced under the Defence Review – intended to help plug the £38 billion hole in the defence budget left by the previous government. Hammond said the Government had "no choice but to reduce the size of the Armed Forces – while reconfiguring them to ensure they remain agile, adaptable and effective". Hammond said: "As we continue with the redundancy process we will ensure we retain the capabilities that our Armed Forces will require to meet the challenges of the future."[11]

The £38 billion "black hole" in MoD finances has been "dealt with" and the Department's "hand to mouth existence will come to an end", Hammond stated in February 2012. Ministers had even found £2.1 billion to be allocated to several major spending projects to be announced in the coming weeks. The money was to come from a combination of draconian cuts over the previous two years, tough bargaining with industry and a one per cent increase in the equipment budget. All three Services will benefit from the new-found cash that will be announced in the next wave of spending proposals – known as Planning Round 12 – by early next month. "New equipment and support contracts amounting to billions of pounds are likely to be unveiled," said a senior MoD official. "PR12 is expected to signal a change in culture at the MoD".[12]

In February 2012 Hammond said that the Falkland Islands do not face a "current credible military threat" from Argentina. He added that Britain had "no desire or intention to increase the heat" surrounding their sovereignty. Speaking in the House of Commons he said "despite media speculation to the contrary, there has been no recent change to force levels", adding "there is no evidence of any current credible military threat to the security of the Falkland Islands and therefore no current plan for significant changes to force deployments. However, Her Majesty's Government is committed to defending the right of the Falkland Islanders to self-determination and plans exist for rapid reinforcement of the land, sea and air forces in and around the islands, should any such threat appear."[13]

Hammond meeting British troops in Helmand Province, Afghanistan

In August 2012 Hammond announced that senior positions within the "top-heavy" military would be cut by a quarter. Around 26 civilian and military head office posts would go and a new senior structure would come in from April 2013. The move was expected to save the Ministry of Defence around £3.8 million a year. Hammond said one in four posts from the ranks of commodore, brigadier, air commodore and above would go. Hammond said: "at a time when we are making difficult decisions about defence spending and have had to accept reductions across the board, we cannot ignore the volume of posts at the top. For too long the MoD has been top-heavy, with too many senior civilians and military. Not only does this new structure reduce senior staff posts by up to a quarter in the next two years, but it allows clear strategic priorities to be set for the Armed Forces".[14]

Four weeks before the London Olympic Games of 2012 the security company G4S announced it could not provide the number of security staff it had originally undertaken to deploy for the Games. Hammond solved the problem by calling-up 5,000 members of the Armed Forces making good the shortfall. Their performance attracted widespread praise. Afterwards Hammond told The Independent the issue had taught him an important lesson: "I came into the MoD with a prejudice that we have to look at the way the private sector does things to know how we should do things in Government", he said. "But the story of G4S and the military rescue is quite informative. I'm learning that the application of the lean commercial model does have relevance in areas of the MoD but, equally, you can't look at a warship and say, 'How can I bring a lean management model to this?' – because it's doing different things with different levels of resilience that are not generally required in the private sector."[15]

Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs

Hammond meeting with US Secretary of State John Kerry

On 15 July 2014, Hammond was appointed Foreign and Commonwealth Secretary. Newspapers highlighted his "Eurosceptic" credentials, and his confidence that Britain could "get a deal" on reforming the European Union. He has said he would vote in a putative referendum for a British exit from the European Union unless there were changes in the relationship.[16]

In August 2014, Hammond said he was surprised at the sudden resignation of Sayeeda Warsi, Baroness Warsi, who wrote of "great unease" under his leadership of the Foreign office.[17]

In March 2015, Hammond stated that Britain would support the Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen "in every practical way short of engaging in combat."[18]

In March 2015, speaking as the minister responsible for the intelligence agencies, he suggested that terror "apologists" must share blame in terrorist acts, saying "But a huge burden of responsibility also lies with those who act as apologists for them."[19]

Hammond welcomes president of China and Communist Party chief Xi Jinping to London, 19 October 2015

In May 2015 he introduced the European Union Referendum Bill 2015–16 into the House of Commons.[citation needed]

On 8 July 2015, Hammond condemned the defeat by Russia at the UN Security Council of his four-page draft resolution S/2015/508,[20] that was inter alia to apply the genocide label to the Srebrenica massacre of Muslim Bosniaks in 1995.[21] Angola, China, Nigeria and Venezuela abstained,[22] while the draft had been proposed by Jordan, Lithuania, Malaysia, New Zealand, the UK and the US.[20] The Russian ambassador, Vitaly Churkin, criticised the British wording as "confrontational and politically-motivated", arguing that it unfairly singled out Bosnian Serbs for committing war crimes in a conflict in which all three ethnic groups were the victims of atrocities.[21] Hammond stated that: "We are disappointed that our Resolution to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Srebrenica was vetoed today."[23]

As of 2015, the UK government did not formally recognise the Ottoman Empire's massacres of Armenians as a "genocide".[24]

On 14 July 2015, after several years of on-again-off-again negotiations, the P5+1 reached agreement with Iran over the Nuclear program of Iran. Hammond was present in Vienna as the UK representative for the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action disclosure ceremony.[25] Hammond presented the deal in Commons the next day,[26] and was in Jerusalem for a joint press conference with Benjamin Netanyahu, which was described as "tense".[26][27]

Hammond wants to reduce migration from Poland and other European Union countries, especially from the former Eastern Bloc.[28]

Hammond described the United Nations findings regarding the detention of Julian Assange in the Ecuadorian embassy in London on 6 February 2016 as "ridiculous".[29] Mads Andenæs commented, "When countries respond in this way, they damage the respect for the rule of law and the United Nations."[30]

In October 2015, Justice Secretary Michael Gove cancelled a £5.9 million contract to provide services for prisons in the Saudi Arabia, saying "the British government should not be assisting a regime that uses beheadings, stoning, crucifixions and lashings as forms of punishment." Foreign Secretary Hammond accused Gove of "naivety".[31]

Chancellor of the Exchequer

On 13th July 2016 Hammond was appointed as Chancellor of the Exchequer by new Prime Minister Theresa May.[32]

Other political positions

2008 financial crisis

In May 2012, Hammond said that banks were not solely responsible for the 2008 financial crisis as "they had to lend to someone". Hammond said that people who took out loans were "consenting adults" who, in some cases, were now seeking to blame others for their actions. He went on to say, "People say to me, 'it was the banks'. I say, 'hang on, the banks had to lend to someone'. People feel in a sense that someone else is responsible for the decisions they made. Of course, if banks don't offer credit, people can't take it, [But] there were two consenting adults in all these transactions, a borrower and a lender, and they may both have made wrong calls. Some people are unwilling to accept responsibility for the consequences of their own choices".[33]

Same-sex marriage

In May 2012, Hammond said same-sex marriage is "too controversial".[34] In January 2013 during a visit to Royal Holloway, University of London he bracketed the tabled legislation, which was passed afterwards, alongside socially unacceptable relationships, at the upper scale of which he stated was the criminal offence of incest. Asked by PinkNews to clarify his remarks, Hammond wrote by email: "The discussion ranged very widely and was not limited to same sex relationships".[34]

In May 2013 Philip Hammond abstained as one of four Cabinet Ministers not to vote in favour of gay marriage.[35] Hammond has been openly critical of the then Prime Minister's approach to the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 and said in November 2013 that he was "shocked" at the speed with which it was pushed through and that it is "damaging" to the Conservative Party.[36]

Personal life

Hammond married Susan Carolyn Williams-Walker on 29 June 1991. They have two daughters and a son[37][38] and live in Send, Surrey, with another home in London. Hammond's wealth is estimated as £9 million.[39]

References

  1. ^ "Philip Hammond MP". BBC- Democracy live. Retrieved 13 October 2011.
  2. ^ "William Hague quits as foreign secretary in cabinet reshuffle". BBC News. Retrieved 14 July 2014.
  3. ^ "Grande-Bretagne : l'eurosceptique Philip Hammond remplace Hague aux Affaires étrangères". euronews. Retrieved 15 July 2014.
  4. ^ http://www.debretts.com/people-of-today/profile/19461/Philip-HAMMOND
  5. ^ http://www.castlemead-ltd.co.uk Castlemead Homes
  6. ^ Stratton, Allegra (29 September 2011). "Government plans to raise speed limit to 80mph". The Guardian. London.
  7. ^ Peter Walker (25 December 2011). "80mph speed limit 'would increase deaths by 20%'". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 July 2016.
  8. ^ Milmo, Dan (14 October 2011). "Philip Hammond and Justine Greening named defence and transport ministers". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 14 October 2011.
  9. ^ "Women to be allowed to serve on Royal Navy submarines". BBC. 8 December 2011.
  10. ^ "Hammond says UK not seeking 'perfect Afghanistan'". BBC News. 8 December 2011.
  11. ^ "MoD announces details of 4,200 job cuts". BBC News. 17 January 2012.
  12. ^ MoD balances books first time in four decades
  13. ^ Winnett, Robert (21 February 2012). "Argentina does not pose threat to Falklands, says Philip Hammond". The Daily Telegraph. London.
  14. ^ "Military's 'top-heavy' command to be cut by a quarter". BBC News. 19 August 2012.
  15. ^ G4S proves we can't always rely on private sector, says minister
  16. ^ telegraph.co.uk: "Philip Hammond: I am serious about reforming EU" 15 Jul 2014
  17. ^ Hope, Christopher (5 August 2014). "How Baroness Warsi's resignation letter lifts a lid on frustrations in the Coalition". www.telegraph.co.uk. Telegraph Media Group Limited. Retrieved 5 August 2014.
  18. ^ "UK 'will support Saudi-led assault on Yemeni rebels - but not engaging in combat'". www.telegraph.co.uk. Telegraph Media Group Limited. 27 March 2015.
  19. ^ "Terror 'apologists' must share blame - Hammond - BBC News". Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 8 September 2015.
  20. ^ a b un.org: "United Nations - S/2015/508 - Security Council - Jordan, Lithuania, Malaysia, New Zealand, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and United States of America: draft resolution", 8 July 2015
  21. ^ a b telegraph.co.uk: "Russia blocks UN resolution condemning Srebrenica massacre as genocide", 8 July 2015
  22. ^ un.org: "UN News Centre: UN officials recall 'horror' of Srebrenica as Security Council fails to adopt measure condemning massacre", 8 July 2015
  23. ^ gov.uk: "Foreign Secretary statement following UN Security Council vote on Srebrenica resolution", 8 July 2015
  24. ^ "Britain sidesteps Armenian genocide recognition a century after killings". The Guardian. 23 April 2015.
  25. ^ telegraph.co.uk: "Iran nuclear deal: agreement reached in Vienna - as it happened", 14 July 2015
  26. ^ a b telegraph.co.uk: "Benjamin Netanyahu intends to fight Iran nuclear deal all the way, says Philip Hammond", 15 July 2015
  27. ^ telegraph.co.uk: "Netanyahu rebuffs Philip Hammond over Iran deal", 16 July 2015
  28. ^ "Hammond sees schedule tight for Britain to vote on EU next year". Reuters. 22 September 2015.
  29. ^ Addley, Esther; Elgot, Jessica; Bowcott, Owen (5 February 2016). "Julian Assange accuses UK minister of insulting UN after detention finding". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 February 2016.
  30. ^ Maurizi, Stefania (9 February 2016). "Pressioni politiche sulle Nazioni Unite per la decisione su Julian Assange" [Political Pressures on the United Nations over the decision on Julian Assange]. L'espresso (in Italian). Retrieved 10 February 2016.
  31. ^ "Saudi prisons contract: Gove and Hammond clash over deal". The Guardian. 13 October 2015.
  32. ^ http://news.sky.com/story/cabinet-hammond-chancellor-johnson-foreign-10500834. Retrieved 13 July 2016. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  33. ^ Kirkup, James (3 May 2012). "Families must accept share of blame for Britain's woes". The Daily Telegraph. London.
  34. ^ a b "Exclusive: Defence Secretary Philip Hammond links incest with same-sex marriage". Pink News. Retrieved 19 February 2015.
  35. ^ Wigmore, Tim (17 February 2011). "Philip Hammond taken to task over anti-gay rights record". Newstatesman.com. Retrieved 8 September 2015.
  36. ^ Swinford, Steven (8 November 2013). "Legalising same-sex marriage was 'damaging' for Tories, Philip Hammond says". The Daily Telegraph. London.
  37. ^ Conservative Party
  38. ^ BBC News: Vote 2001
  39. ^ "The new ruling class". New Statesman. London. 1 October 2009.
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Parliament of the United Kingdom
New constituency Member of Parliament
for Runnymede and Weybridge
1997–present 		Incumbent
Political offices
Preceded by Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury
2005 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions
2005–2007 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury
2007–2010 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Secretary of State for Transport
2010–2011 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Secretary of State for Defence
2011–2014 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
2014–2016 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Chancellor of the Exchequer
2016-present 		Incumbent
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